Since we can only post 4 pictures at a time on a blog entry, and since this is such a beautiful place, I’m breaking this up into 2 separate blogs. This was a short stop, only about 7 hours, I think because of the tides. We had to anchor quite a way out from the town of Halong Bay so we didn’t get to the actual city but, according to our onboard expert, there wasn’t much to see there. The main attraction was the bay itself.
This was our first time to experience a Communist country and the red tape that visitors go through to enter. We were all given a shore pass the night before we arrived and were instructed to take the card with us whenever we disembarked in Vietnam. The disembarkation procedure was to have our cards stamped by Vietnamese officials on our way off the ship. This made for long lines and a few disgruntled passengers. At the gangway there were 2 stone-faced men who were dressed in military garb. I almost felt like a prisoner as we passed them. They didn’t acknowledge us in any way. When we said “good morning” they just stared at us as if they were sure we were coming into their country to commit a heinous crime. The first guy stamped our card and read off a number to the second guy who proceeded to write the number by hand in a book. Then we were free to leave the ship.
We boarded a boat for a bay cruise. We had met up with some of our friends to take the excursion together and we’ve included a group picture. From left are Austin, me, Brenna (married to Austin), and Pete and Sharon, who are a couple. The boat was nicer than most of us expected. A few minutes after we set off, a small boat with a Vietnamese family came up beside our boat, offering to sell us fruits and vegetables. The father was driving the boat and the mother watched as her very young children climbed up on the ledge on the outer part of our boat and begged us to buy what their mothers were selling. It looked very dangerous for the children and very sad to think that they have to grow up this way.
After about a half hour we came to the shore where some caves had been discovered and we got off the boat and took a tour. Another tour boat of Vietnamese people arrived at the same time we did. We had to walk up about 100 steps on a narrow stairway to get to the mouth of the cave and had to walk single file. The Vietnamese seemed to have no concept of lining up, or queuing, as they say in Europe. Some of them pushed ahead of us and rudely shoved us aside. They didn’t look us in the eye or say the equivalent of “excuse me” in Vietnamese; they just pushed their way through. If we couldn’t move out of their way quickly enough they would “get in our space” until we were uncomfortable and we started shoving each other just so this tiny person could get by. It was oddly upsetting and we would all look at each other in disbelief. They continued to do this all through the cave tour.
This was our first time to experience a Communist country and the red tape that visitors go through to enter. We were all given a shore pass the night before we arrived and were instructed to take the card with us whenever we disembarked in Vietnam. The disembarkation procedure was to have our cards stamped by Vietnamese officials on our way off the ship. This made for long lines and a few disgruntled passengers. At the gangway there were 2 stone-faced men who were dressed in military garb. I almost felt like a prisoner as we passed them. They didn’t acknowledge us in any way. When we said “good morning” they just stared at us as if they were sure we were coming into their country to commit a heinous crime. The first guy stamped our card and read off a number to the second guy who proceeded to write the number by hand in a book. Then we were free to leave the ship.
We boarded a boat for a bay cruise. We had met up with some of our friends to take the excursion together and we’ve included a group picture. From left are Austin, me, Brenna (married to Austin), and Pete and Sharon, who are a couple. The boat was nicer than most of us expected. A few minutes after we set off, a small boat with a Vietnamese family came up beside our boat, offering to sell us fruits and vegetables. The father was driving the boat and the mother watched as her very young children climbed up on the ledge on the outer part of our boat and begged us to buy what their mothers were selling. It looked very dangerous for the children and very sad to think that they have to grow up this way.
After about a half hour we came to the shore where some caves had been discovered and we got off the boat and took a tour. Another tour boat of Vietnamese people arrived at the same time we did. We had to walk up about 100 steps on a narrow stairway to get to the mouth of the cave and had to walk single file. The Vietnamese seemed to have no concept of lining up, or queuing, as they say in Europe. Some of them pushed ahead of us and rudely shoved us aside. They didn’t look us in the eye or say the equivalent of “excuse me” in Vietnamese; they just pushed their way through. If we couldn’t move out of their way quickly enough they would “get in our space” until we were uncomfortable and we started shoving each other just so this tiny person could get by. It was oddly upsetting and we would all look at each other in disbelief. They continued to do this all through the cave tour.
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