Day 61 - Monday Feb 27 Bai Chay on Halong Bay for Hanoi, Vietnam

Hanoi photos

position at 8:45 am: N20 57.5 latitude E107 3.55 longitude
(Bai Chay 100 miles by road E of Hanoi, Vietnam)
temperature: 59F, 100% humidity, foggy and misting
distance since FLL: 21,032 miles

We were up early this morning because we wanted to see the sail in to Halong Bay. It was lightly raining and foggy and visibility was poor. The water was just smooth grey slate. There are lots of small fishing boats around and larger house-type boats and some small freighters. It is frankly a little eerie.

Just after 8am when we were scheduled to be docked, and we still could not see anything, the Captain announced over the loudspeakers that we were sailing in Halong Bay and due to "um...traffic" that our arrival would be delayed by at least an hour. Now, we are fairly observant and the only "um...traffic" the Capt. could possibly be referring to is the 2 guys we stopped to pick up about 6:45am this morning before we got in the thick of the rocks for which Halong Bay is famous. Capt. Dag said all excursions would proceed as planned just later than scheduled after we are cleared to go ashore. Then, he said he had been informed that we have to leave the dock in Bai Chay (if that is actually where we are now, he was not really clear about that) at 7am tomorrow instead of 3pm. He said that meant that the Hong Gai walking excursion was cancelled. He said we should get more information later. Let's hope. Roger has emphasized that if you want to travel in this part of the world and on ships that you have to be very flexible and willing to just enjoy whatever comes your way and that if you are inflexible that you should travel some other way. We guess. But, hey, we have said since day one of booking this that we are just on for the ride and so we are.

Wherever it is we are getting ready to dock is a much larger town than we had been prepared for, but then again it is not clear that anyone aboard Voyager has ever been to this new place with the dock before. It extends for quite a distance on either side of a gap with an unfinished bridge between the 2 sides. There are ferries running back and forth.

We have been warned of heavy traffic, pressing throngs and hordes of abjectly impoverished people begging and desperate stealing. Hopefully, it will not actually be as bad as all that, but we will know first-hand shortly.

We have brought all the ferry traffic to a standstill while we sail through. We are actually sailing through the gap in the incompleted bridge! Good thing it is not finished! The bridge had a clearance of 50m according to a sign on it and Voyager slipped under the bridge with 5-10 feet to spare. The new dock facilities are on the other side of the bridge. It is a good-sized container facility beyond a petroleum facility. We are heading for a stretch of concrete just past the containers based on the buses parked there. We are an hour late now and still not yet docked, much less cleared which apparently is even trickier.

We all have an immigration card that we are to have with us at all times and it will be stamped each time we leave and reboard the ship. We are still awaiting information on how we leave Vietnam through Cambodia which we are doing on an RSSC ship's excursion. Clay asked at the Tour Desk yesterday and was told we should expect documents any day now.

The Captain is spinning the ship in place again and we will be docked on the starboard side. Our port side view will be across the bay. We just got a cancellation letter for the walking tour. The letter states that we must leave the dock in Hong Gai at 7am. It appears between the information in Capt. Dag's 8am announcement and this letter, that we will NOT be able to leave the ship tomorrow at all unless we sign up for the Halong Bay by Junk tour. We still do not know where we are now. The letter says we are in Hon Gai and in Hongai. It says tomorrow morning we will sail and anchor approximately 2 hours away from Hong Gai. Like we said, we are just on for the ride, we're going where they're going, whether we know where we are or not. Sorry, for those trying to really map us out. We don't know. Just back from the Tour Desk to sign us up for the Junk boat tour of Halong Bay tomorrow. We hate to have a sea day anchored 10-miles out and doing nothing when we are this close to a new country, also hate to bob around in a tiny boat.... Anyway, asked where we are. We are docked in Bai Chay. It is on the left side of the unfinished bridge as we sailed in and Hongai is on the right. They are still running a complimentary shuttle to Bai Chay for people staying aboard today. A good part of the Vietnamese Army was boarding while Debbie was down there. We hope to clear soon and so will go on downstairs. It is just before 10am. Here is our tour description:

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Duration: 10 Hours.
Seated, Wheelchair.


Though it takes a long drive of over 3 hours to reach the nation's capital, Hanoi is a city not to be missed. Boasting glorious French colonial architecture and numerous lakes, the city is the jewel in Vietnam's crown, a little known blend of east and west with bicycle cluttered streets and a nation of people reluctant to join the frenetic atmosphere of their southern counterpart. You will arrive in Hanoi's imposing Ba Dinh Square which is dominated by the impressive marble and granite tomb where the father of the country lies in state. Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum is closed on Mondays and Fridays and the last visits are scheduled at 10:00am during the remainder of the week.
Leaving your coach, you will make a walking tour of the area around the mausoleum. Note that an interior visit will not be possible, but the building itself makes for a memorable photograph. Continuing your walk, you will next pass the former French Governor's Residence and the tranquil lotus ponds at the entrance to Ho Chi Minh's Cottage. In stark contrast to the neighboring residence, this cottage is a simple teak building designed in harmony with the surroundings and in the style of the ethnic hill tribe homes. Further on, you will come to the rebuilt 'One Pillar Pagoda', its origins shrouded in legend. Then, rejoining your coach you will continue your discovery of Vietnam's capital.

Next you will visit the Temple of Literature, dating from 1070 it is dedicated to Confucianism. In 1076, Vietnam's first national university was built next to the temple. Enjoy walking through the tranquil five walled courtyards and see the pavilion where 'men of letters' once recited their poetry.
After a buffet lunch of local delicacies at the Hanoi Sheraton hotel restaurant, your drive continues past the Hoan Kiem Lake where you will see a tiny island in the middle of the lake and on which is perched, the Ngoc Son pagoda. The lake is also known as the Lake of the Restored Sword, and you will hear the legend that is the origin of this name.

Next visit the former prison for the American pilots during the Vietnam war. You will see where current Senator, John McCain and the ex Ambassador to Vietnam, Douglas B. Peterson, were imprisoned after being shot down.

Finally go to the ancient quarter or 36 streets district. The streets here were named after the tradesman that worked in them - such as Tin Street, Paper Street or Silk Street. There will then be time for you to explore onfoot and do some shopping prior to the return drive to the ship.
Please note: The order of sites visited may vary. The drive to Hanoi is long and can be in excess of 3 hours, depending on traffic. Shopping time will be limited.

Tour price: $135
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Whew! We are back. It was a long day. We got in line to exit the ship at the forward elevators, the line went around the atrium, through a maze of chairs in the Voyager Lounge, out by Compass Rose and back to the other side of the Main Atrium to get out the door. There was an extra step today. We each had to have our immigration cards stamped by a Vietnamese Army officer before we could leave the ship. (There were officers in the same spot when we returned to the ship but they did not look at us or the cards we have to carry.) We got unlucky in the bus draw again today. We went out in the gray drizzle and the first 4 or so buses were for the same tour as ours but instead of the Hanoi Hilton, it spends an extra 30 minutes shopping. So, we were told to walk on down to bus 7 and higher. We got to bus 7 which looked full already and were told to board it. We did. Roger and the brochure both state this is an 18-person tour and there were already over 20 people in there. We took 2 seats. (Hey, we are planning to spend 6 hours in these seats today and paying first-class fare for it.) Our bus wound up having 28 people on it. The problem was that we got the slacker bus. The guide did not guide. He talked on the bus about the Vietnamese language mostly (He seemed to have a thing for Vietnamese language homophones, if you say it this way it means good morning, if you say it this way it means chicken soup... he had a bunch of them! All of them of no use to any of us.) and the peoples' condition now vs. 10-20 years in the past. But, once he let us off the bus each time, it was here is so and so, be back at this time. Then he was gone. You would see him again when it was time to get back on the bus. All the other buses had their guides with them in a group and they were telling them about things of interest and we have no idea what we saw. He did speak in front of Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, so they must have video surveillance there or something. Also, about 1/3 of the way to Hanoi, we drove through a coal mining town and the windows were just covered with black mud. At the first stop and at the second stop, we saw the driver and helper from each bus out washing all the windows on the buses. All but our bus. They washed the front window for the driver, and the next 2 windows down the sides but never touched the rest of them. All our picture taking was out the windows and you could barely see out our bus' windows. Unlike all the other buses, which had sparkling clean windows. Our guys had the same window washing gear and the same amount of time, they were just lazy. We don't know whether the guide was just lazy too, or he was balking at doing any guiding off the bus because the group was so much larger than what had been contracted and it is a lot harder to lead and speak to 28 than to 18.

The highway is in good shape and complete, but only 2 lanes. It is Highway 1A. The guide said it was 170km to Hanoi. It took exactly 3 hours. We arrived just in time for 1-2pm lunch at the Sheraton. There was not gridlocked traffic like we had heard about anywhere. There was just slow traffic. The guide said in every village the speed limit is 35km. Plus, there are scooters and bicycles on the highway, in any event it was slow going.

It seemed to be mostly rice paddies from here to there. It was scenic. There seemed to be lots of new construction going on and the guide talked about how other countries were investing here with long term leases on land.

First stop in Hanoi since we were 2 hours late leaving was lunch at the Sheraton. It was a good buffet and we had an hour there. They served pork and beef and shrimp fried rice with a variety of vegetables and salads and spring rolls, sweet corn soup and dinner rolls.Then a few minutes drive to Ho's mausoleum, a few minutes walk past it and on the the One Tree Pagoda, then back on the bus. We drove a few more minutes and circled a large walled park as the guide told us about the Temple of Literature inside. Then he pointed the gate out to us and told us to go wander in there and come back in 40 minutes. Groans on the bus. Now, he did not guide us and we don't know whether he was just lazy or whether he was balking because the group was too large for him to speak to outdoors. But, there was also a problem with the group. A large percentage of them was ready to drive back after lunch. This just keeps happening to us. Why would people sign up for an 8 or 11 hour tour and then ask mid-way through when they could go back to the ship? They thought that 40 minutes was too long there. He told them there were some shops in there. Well, there were, but... Back on the bus. Our windows were still dirty and all the other buses came with their clean windows so people could actually sightsee from the bus and we could barely see out! He told us some about the Hanoi Hilton and then pointed it out from the bus. He let us out and told us when to be back again. He told us to follow the signs through. We listened in on several other guides. It was a grim place and much larger then we expected. We had been told that only a small portion of the facility had been preserved, but what we saw was not a small place. Back on the bus, the guide wanted to have a vote whether to drive straight back to the ship now or sightsee the remainder of the tour from the bus. We finally spoke up. We can't sightsee through these filthy windows. The guide said he did not think people wanted to walk. Yes, we do because we can't see anything or take any pictures otherwise. He balked at taking us shopping. (He told us, the name of the tour is "... without shopping" and apparently he did not get the memo that Roger said this tour had 1 hour shopping and the "...with shopping" tour had 1.5 hours of shopping. He said we would get lost and he could not guide us all together, etc. The RSSC rep on our bus, a distinguished gent, finally intervened and told the guide he should stick to the tour brochure description and take us out walking and those who did not want to walk could sit on the bus while it went somewhere else before picking the walkers back up. This brought groans about missed dining plans, etc. and the gent told them they knew when they got on the bus it was a 10.5 hour tour and it did not matter that we had left the ship 2 hours late. That was how we felt about it, too. So, the guide in a huff, pulled up his hood and raced through the streets. Literally, raced. Literally, through the streets. He did not walk on a single sidewalk even when it would have have been possible and safer. After he had gone a few blocks and no one had gotten lost or stepped into a shop or been picked off by traffic he did slow to a reasonable pace for the group to stay together, but he did not provide any commentary, or step onto a sidewalk. He did make sure after that though that all the group was able to cross the street without risking their lives. We walked past other groups in stores shopping and on pedicabs and leaving the Water Puppet Theater. We don't know what they booked but we wished we had!

We got back between 8:30 and 9pm. We got back to the ship exactly 3 hours after leaving Hanoi, so even with less traffic on the highway the time it took was the same. We had a stop at the same large souvenir shop as on the way into Hanoi, with lots of toilets, going in both directions. That added about 40 minutes to the total travel time, too. We are glad that we took the opportunity to do this. But, we were not happy with the quality of our tour here and it was a long drive for little reward no matter what the quality. We did not find conditions in Hanoi to be as dire as Roger had warned, but then we spent very little time out. We were mostly on the bus or in the hotel. So, it may be bad but we did not see it.

Weirdest sight of the day: A motorbike loaded with 4 big live pigs that was parked on the highway shoulder, while the driver peed by the side of the road! Clay was too slow with his camera to get that even through dirty windows. We saw it and still can't imagine how many strong men it would take to get 4 big pigs trussed up and stacked crosswise like that. Much less how you would have it so balanced that you could park it on a kickstand while 4 adults pigs wiggled around.

Hanoi photos