Leftover Vietnam Musings...pt 2

Mar 16, 2009 at 12:07 AM
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Not many thoughts in the end haha! But here's the final part of it. The rest of the stuff I thought about and wrote during my trip can't be shared with you guys sorry!

Stoned

Halong Bay & Cat Ba Island

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I admit Halong Bay was a beautiful spot and I can see how magnificent the location is. For the life of me though, I can't see how some of those rock formations got their names. I tried. I really did. But some of those names left me scratching my head! I could only nod in agreement when my guide pointed out the rocks to us, take a quick snap and then squint and stare very hard to make the connection! Maybe I just don't have a very good imagination. What were those Vietnamese fishermen smoki

Surreal

Halong Bay & Cat Ba Island

I've experienced many moments that make me go "WTF?!" but this ranks quite high up there on the surreal table. There I was, floating peacefully on a boat down Halong Bay. The sun was getting ready to set and we've just finished an afternoon of marvelling at the gorgeous rock formations and caves that the Bay boasted. As we came to the end of our tour, activities on the boat had pretty much wound down. Our guide was busy below deck as we neared Cat Ba Island, and we were all rather tired.

I was freezing, but enjoying the moment, as the evening breeze said hello and the rocks stared down at us instead. My fellow tourmates were either busy snapping photos, napping or chatting about their coming stay on the boat. Suddenly I heard the sounds of a harmonica. The song was faintly recognisable but I think it was Frank Sinatra's 'My Way'. I stopped to stare at the Korean guy who was playing, wondering if I was imagining the whole thing. I turned my gaze back to the cool blue water of the bay, and I chuckled.

Peace

Halong Bay & Cat Ba Island

After the assault on my privacy and senses that is Hanoi, it was nice to find solitude on Cat Ba 2 beach. As I write this, the place is practically deserted, save for the handful of staff and some bored-ass tourists mucking around. The only sounds in the background are the crashing of the waves and the spluttering of a motorboat heading out to sea. I did my 2009 lifeplan during my 2.5hours on that beach. It was definitely worth the 2km trek from my hotel.

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[this is good]

vietnam have some nice mountains/hiking areas if you're into that too... a lot of "attractions" like monuments and weird stuff they build - it's weird but they want to charge you money to have your pictures taken with it. lame right ? haha

i remember one time i went to this out-of-the-way town in vietnam and i tried to leave a tip at this restaurant and the waitress was like "hey you forgot your money!" and i'm like "oh it's for you".
in bigger cities, they seem to know/want tips :)

haha yeah there's more to see in vietnam. i wanna see Hue, Danang, Dalat, Hoi An, Sapa etc. so many.

yea i do notice almost all e monuments etc has a fee attached. even the bridge at Hoan Kiem, to get to the other side u need to pay a toll. but i think standard fare over e world so its ok.

i think even when comparing hanoi vs. hcm, hanoi shopowners probly hustle u a bit more, hcm seemed a bit more chill (except ben thahn market dem ladies were sharks yo). i think w increased capitalism, situation might change in coming years. wanna trek more there before it gets worse!

Leftover Vietnam Musings...pt 2

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