Ha Long Bay - Candle Island

Here's one of the dramatic islands with its base eroding. It's called Candle Island, not hard to imagine why.

Ha Long Bay

We have just returned from two nights and three days in Ha Long Bay, a beautiful area about 4 hours northeast of Hanoi. We were taken there by bus and boarded the boat around noon, worried that we wouldn't see much of the islands because of the smog. But as we got closer, we got to see plenty. There are nearly 2000 of these islands, ranging from small rocks to very large islands. What makes them startling is that they rise up very steep and tall from the water. Since they're of limestone, there's also lots of interesting erosion, carving out arches and cutting away at the base of some of the islands, making very dramatic structures. Here's one shot of the islands, and I'll post another of one of the more dramatic structures.

We were on a very nice boat, with a quite luxurious cabin--full queen sized bed, and our own bathroom, with very modern fixtures and a generous shower. The food was superb and generous. One habit for serving the food is to create roses our of tomatoes and beautiful designs with various fruits and vegetables. We've seen doves carved out of pear apples, and a junk made out of a cucumber with rattan sales of carrots. Quite dramatic, and also very tasty.

We're in Hanoi for a free day tomorrow, and then take off for two days up in the mountains west of Hanoi.

Traffic in Hanoi

First a quick post to show you a little about what it's like in the streets of Hanoi. The biggest challenge to a newcomer is to get the courage to cross the street. You just step into the flow of traffic and let it make its way around you. We're told the idea is to look straight ahead and keep moving slowly and steadily. Don't stop--because then the vehicles can predict what you'll do. We're working on it!

Arrived in Vietnam!

We arrived last night in Vietnam after about 4 hours of flying from the Philippines - going through Hong Kong. The biggest part of the adventure was discovering that I had missed printing out a visa clearance document, when checking in at the Manila airport. Frantic phone calls to our tour agent followed, plus several trips back and forth to a phone store because my phone kept running out of minutes, but the agent managed to fax the document to the airline office, and they got it to me just in time to board. Whew!

Then my tour agent covered bases again by having someone meet us in Hanoi with another copy of the document. So we're off to a somewhat hectic but promising start, because the agent really made sure we were okay.

Hanoi is quite cool after the Philippines--in the high 50's at the moment. It has traffic that is every bit as hectic as Manila, so we're glad to have had some practice in negotiating free flowing vehicles. Here there are no jeepneys but LOTS of motorcycles and they go everywhere--even the wrong way.

We're in a nice small hotel, which with 8 stories, sticks up far enough that there's a great view all around from the top floor which houses a restaurant (where we get our free breakfast) and the fitness center, where I worked out this morning. We're about to leave to do our first day's exploring.

We'll see if I can post a picture of rooftops seen from our hotel. If not, I'll try later.

Ever had lunch sitting in a stream?

On our way north from Naga, we stopped at a coconut plantation being run as a resort, where they serve lunch next to a waterfall. The tables are set in the stream beneath the waterfall, so you are sitting (and retrieving your food from the buffet table) in about 6 inches of running water. An unusual setting, to say the least! Keeps you cool in the heat!

From there we went to the mountain region of Sagaytay, next to the Taal volcano and lake, a very scenic area that gets wind, so stays a lot cooler than Manila and elsewhere because of the elevation and the wind. We stayed in a lovely resort there for two days.

Now we are in Manila, very definitely a big, big city with bigger slums, lots of high rises, and quite a mix of lovely places and things not so lovely. We're on our last day in Manila, getting ready to take the plane tomorrow and counting our pesos to see how much money we need to get ourselves out of the country. We have very much enjoyed getting to know our Philippine family, and they have been extremely gracious hosts.

So, until Vietnam, I'll sign off.

Island Boating Adventure

Several days ago we had our great boating adventure during a trip to the east coast of the island. While we were swimming and enjoying the beach a floating house appeared being towed down the beach by a couple of men. Shortly before a long, narrow outrigger boat had pulled up on the beach, and I was examining it curiously, assuming it was used by local fishermen.

It turned out that the floating "house" was a raft with a shelter, made out of bamboo, and the plan was to transport some 20+ of us on the raft out to a nearby island, towed by the fishing boats. As we all boarded, it became quite evident that the raft was designed for fewer people than we put on it--but we managed to stay afloat, even if not all of the raft floor stayed above water. Most of the people on the raft seemed to have little sense of the need to keep the raft balanced, both side to side and fore and aft, in order to prevent parts of it from going under water. The tow went quite slowly -- they started with one boat and decided they needed two. I addition to the people actually on the raft, we also towed a few behind us on inner tubes and ropes, and others clinging to the side. Can you believe it??

We got there--though our craft would never survive an OSHA review! And had a great time doing it. We are having lots of interesting adventures with our local guides planning them for us. And eating both well and way too much! That too is part of the Filipino adventure.

Sharing your gifts

Today's picture has a story. A couple days ago we visited the home in which Joahnna's mother grew up, with her nine siblings (4 boys, 6 girls). By Philippine standards they were relatively well off, in a small, well-built separate house, with the boys sharing one bedroom, the girls another, and the parents the third bedroom. Surrounding them, however, was a very poor neighborhood, with lots of small shacks built of whatever people can find. Their parents' house is still there, now a girls dormitory, and is still surrounded by the same poor neighborhood.

Their grandmother started a tradition of giving sacks of candy to all the neighborhood children each Christmas, and her children now carry that tradition on. So a few days ago we all created an assembly line to bag up 500 sacks of candy (apparently the number of children has increased over the years). Then we drove to the house, all donned Santa Claus hats, and proceeded to hand out the sacks of candy to the children, or their parents, who had been given slips of paper for each child that morning. You got the number of sacks to match the number of paper slips you had.

Our kids did a little performance as well, there was a little singing, and the festivities wrapped up in about two hours. It was a slightly rainy afternoon and that may have dampened attendance, because only about 450 sacks were claimed. The picture for today shows the children standing in line to get the candy (outside the fence) and the Santa Clauses of our family on the inside, giving it out. In the background you can see some of the nearby housing.

All interesting adventures, giving us a feel for the country, which has a tremendous gap between those fairly well off and the really poor, whose education probably ends somewhere in grade school.