28-30 April - Mystical Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is the number one tourist destination in Vietnam.  Already a UNESCO World Heritage Site and in the current running  for one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World, of course we had to pay a visit!!!

It's only a 4 hour drive from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay and there are interesting villages to gaze at all along the way.  Still, for the boys it felt like 10 hours - meaning for us it felt like a long time too.   The buses are always packed - filling any empty seats with extra folks at the last minute.  Luckily, we did allow the boys their iTouches on the way out.

Finally arriving in Ha Long Bay, moods lift as the unreal view of the islands of Ha Long Bay come into view. Ha Long stands for Descending Dragon and you can picture a huge  dragon with a never-ending tail meandering its way through the waters just off the shore, disappearing lazily into the mist.

We boarded a little boat which transported about 12 or 15 of us to our lodging for the night ... a ship called the Cristina.  Our ship matched about a hundred other ships just like it  as we first headed into the bay.  This whole site is a well-run commercial operation.  But as we board the Cristina and are given a drink and time to settle on the upper deck, the Cristina moves off in a path through the islands until the number of boats diminishes somewhat.  Still, as the boat rests for night there is no viewpoint from which there are no other ships.  I had to imagine what the islands might look like if you were to view them alone, which must have been magnificent for earlier visitors at one time.

As we settled into our deck chairs, a little row boat came up alongside our ship with a lady from the floating villages selling cokes and snacks.   There are warnings everywhere not to buy any of these products and the boats charge you a hefty fee to bring on-board any of the products from these peddlers.   I'm not sure who would then buy something but there must be some people who do because otherwise the peddlers like this lady simply wouldn't be trying.

We were immediately presented with a lunch that consisted of many local plates arriving at our table in a continual stream.  The only downside was that most of the dishes were ones the boys would not eat.  They managed to eke out enough to settle their stomachs by attacking any spring rolls, noodles or plan rice that arrived.   I thoroughly enjoyed a few of the dishes, though wouldn't have chosen most of them in a restaurant if on offer.  This is partly because I don't care for prawns or shellfish of any sort and am equally unsure about many fish .. and this is of course a land of seafood.  But there was plenty enough on offer.

After lunch, we moved on to an area where we could visit the biggest cave in Ha Long, Surprising Cave.  This cave is in an area that is flanked by a floating village and also tens and tens of other boats like ours with folks waiting to see the cave.   I forgot to mention that this was a special weekend, a national 4 day weekend across Vietnam, so the whole place was far busier than it perhaps would've been.  We were actually warned about this back in Hanoi, but our dates weren't flexible, so there we went with hundreds of Vietnamese and other tourists!

Surprising cave, or Sung Sot Cave (Cave of Surprises), is the largest cave in Halong Bay and has been inhabited for 2,000 years at least.   The formations were interesting. Although we've been in a lot of caves in different countries, I've never seen the softly dipped ceiling formations that are in these caves or the stalactites that span out in sheets like ribbons.  It was a very cool cave structure indeed.

We followed the cave tour up with a bit of kayaking.  From the local village, tour guides hire kayaks for us to paddle around in.  Ben was my buddy.  Sam went with one of the big group of girls here doing volunteer work in a village near Hanoi.   Ben and I had fun dipping or kayak into and out of small cave-like hollows at the base of the nearby islands.  We looked up and saw eagles flying about - there's no shortage of them here.

When we got back to the Cristina, it was time for a swim and that meant getting suited up and jumping from the deck of the ship into the water.  The group of girls we met led the way in jumping form the second tier of the boat and of course we couldn't let them show us up.  The whole family went in and it was really good fun.  We didn't stop til the sun set behind the islands and there was no more light to see by.

The next day, we awoke to the view of the 1,900 islands floating about in the mist.   The boat set sail (figuratively) and took us out towards Cat Ba island.  Along the way, we got to see some of the more remote views of the islands without the crowds of boats.  This was what I had really hoped to see and made the trip completely worthwhile.

 Docking at Cat Ba we all headed to a bus for the ride to the Cat Ba National Park.  There, our itinerary said we would do some trekking in the park.  Stupidly, we had ignored this part of the itinerary and all wore nothing but flip-flops for the weekend, leaving all our other shoes back in Hanoi.  We weren't alone, it seemed at least half the folks trekking in Cat Ba Park were in similar footwear, so we relaxed a little.

It wasn't til we were on our way up the path that we realised how wrong we'd been.  This was definitely a mountain boot path.  Parts of the uphill walk were more of a climb and most of the hike required hoisting yourself about with handholds in the jagged rocks lining the 'path'.  The route was also slippery with mud to add to the challenge.  And it must have been in the upper 30 degrees centigrade, like walking in warm quicksand.  To top it off, we were told to take any valuables with us as there was no locker and I did this climb in flip flops and wearing a heavy backpack with laptops and other valuables all the way up!!

The top of the mountain did have spectacular views to reward the hour long climb - especially if you ignored the sign walling off the entrance to a rusting tower and just climbed over and up as pretty much everyone did.  I was considering whether this was safe enough when I was made aware that Justin and the boys were already at the top - cripes!! Once they made it safely down and were berated by me, I had to see what the fuss was all about and climbed halfway up - wishing I hadn't as it made me aware of how treacherous this tower was, with almost nothing at the sides of the steps to stop a little one from sliding through and over to their doom  ... I made sure to yell at Justin again as I shakily exited to tower to count my children.

 

After the National Park adventure, we returned to the bus and made for Cat Ba town.   There we all separated into different hotels.  Ours was teeming with locals who were enjoying the national holiday.  We once again had food at group tables, with lots and lots of plates of local dishes.  Again, it wasn't quite food that we liked, even though we had really enjoyed the local dishes in Hanoi.  Plates of oysters, prawns and whole steamed fish arrived at the table.  We all sort of longed for stir fried rice or noodles or satay, none of which were available.  A seafood lover would've probably been in heaven.

The Cat Ba bay was so beautiful.  Fishing boats and house boats interspersed with small cruise ships and floating restaurants.  The sunset was nicest we'd seen in a while.   However, we were glad it was only an overnight stay as we were a little overwhelmed by the amount of tourists visiting that weekend and we were looking forward to choosing our own food again.

The next morning, we boarded the Cristina again (after a bus ride back!) and enjoyed a beautiful ride as we sailed through the islands on the journey back to Ha Long City.   Our boat went steered closer to the islands and in and out of tranquil, photogenic vistas for an hour or so.  It was a lovely way to end our view of the islands.

Having lunch at a restaurant on the way back, I had to take a pic of these ready-to-eat snakes in a jar on the counter.  Of course the boys were fascinated too.  They weren't a part of our menu though.

more Ha Long Bay pics:
https://picasaweb.google.com/105332575943799967078/201204VietnamHaLongBay

25 April - Sipping Singapore Slings in Singapore

After spending a couple weeks in Bali, Singapore felt like the ultimate in modern developed cities - and perhaps it is.   A city formed of a largely Chinese population well mixed with Indian, British, Malaysian and all sorts of ex-pat folks.   What I am reminded of most is a huge Financial District - which, of course, it also is.  When asked about rural or traditional or cultural places to visit, our questions were returned with slightly confused looks and directions to the museums in the city centre, Universal Studios and the wonders of Sentosa island or the nearby neighbourhoods of Little India and Chinatown. 

Our first stop was the Asian Civilisations Museum where we found a wealth of background on early trade and development of Singapore.   From what I can tell, like Hong Kong, this city/state has maintained a political independence due to its role as a major trade port and finance centre.  And the museum has a lot images and stories of the early trading towns that sprang up in Singapore due to its unique location on an island with deep water ports and good river access.    The museum houses lots of ancient Chinese and Indian artefacts that are as beautiful and interesting as they are old.  The kids ran about through the masses of Singaporean kids on field trips and enjoyed looking at ceremonial outfits and ancient swords.

We came upon Boat Quay close to the Asian Civilisations Museum and stopped in for a drink .. of course, the first drink on order had to be a Singapore Sling.  I'm not sure if it was the drink or the heat, but the lights over the city looked absolutely amazing in the twilight.    We ordered another drink and locals arrived for post-work drinks, the place becoming busier and busier.

As we sat sipping drinks in the warm evening air, we relaxed, Andy and Sam ran nearby to play.    Musicians arrived and set about busking on the waterfront with western pop.  Meanwhile Ben kept himself busy drawing pictures of monsters ripping the heads off their victims.  Maybe watching the Hunger Games wasn't such a great idea?

We decided to visit the Singapore Zoo - which meant an hour and a half journey across 2 buses.  The kids forgave us when they arrived to see the world class free-range style zoo with large enclosures for the animals .  The  boys had the chance to feed the rhinos which was a first for them.  They looked more nervous than when they had the lion encounter in New Zealand!  I'm sure they'll remember that experience for a long time, especially as rhinos have always been a favourite in our house.

We were all very impressed by the condition of the animals and their surroundings.  The Singapore Zoo should be a stop on any family visit here, it is really well done.

At one of the main animal shows, Justin was pulled up front by the hosts.  He doesn't normally go for this sort of thing, but he was great and hammed it up with them.  It was a great show in which the trained animals from the zoo participated in a story about saving the rainforest.  Cute, educational, what more can you ask for?

 

The kids enjoyed the children's water zone where they made friends and were 100% soaked.  Andy and Sam kept visiting the dogs rescued from a shelter and now working bit parts in the Domestic Animal Show.   Ben was invited to the home of his friends, but we didn't really get a chance to go visit, we really weren't in Singapore very long at all.

We finished off the day at the zoo with a visit to the next door Night Safari.  In layout, this is very similar to the Singapore Zoo with well spaced enclosures and leafy walkways.   But this zoo is only open at night and is there for the pleasure of seeing all the nocturnal animals in their element.  The whole place is dark with discretely placed dim lighting and a walking path as well as separate safari-bus routes.  I didn't take many photos because it wouldn't haven't really been possible without a flash... and that was definitely not an option!



Another night, we went out walking along Marina Bay Harbour  with Sam, while Ben and Andy stayed 'home' with to rest (the girls at the hostel reception loved to be with them) .  That night, we saw an amazing light and fire show over the water - apparently it takes place every night at 8 for about 20 minutes.  We watched an asian fellow wearing a pink bra and knickers over his clothes get decked out in pink heart-shaped balloons by his friends - there was actually a reason, he was about to be married.  On the way home, we saw the electric lights of the Singapore Kite Dancers in operations with their remote controlled 'kites'.  The spontaneous adventures that can happen on a walk through town at night remind me a lot of our old life in San Francisco.

Justin took us all on an outing to Orchard Road where the famous sights are  huge stores like Gucci, Prada and Chanel.   Normally, I love shopping, but I have to say, Singapore by day was beginning to feel like one huge, endless shopping mall.   I've never been one to turn down a shopping trip - but somehow all of the girls in their name brands, the bright store lights and gazillion things on offer all feel way out of context when you've spent the last few months in more low key spots.  Somehow, I just couldn't get to feeling completely relaxed here.

On the culinary front, we tried our best to stick to local asian cuisine, avoiding the western restaurants.  Andy, Ben and Sam have all been very game about trying new dishes and they all love to use chopsticks - with varying results.  We've had mixed results, but overall find that anything accompanying noodles or rice will taste good to us.

We went to the Jurong bird park in the wilds of Singapore one day.  There were some great walk-through aviaries. The best is the African waterfalls aviary.  Because it is so big, you do have to look carefully and stay still to spot interesting birds, the Lorry Aviary was also great, if a little noisy and messy!  You could purchase a bowl of food for the lorries ... at which point they almost attacked you and each other to get tho the food first - greedy suckers!

 As a treat to the boys for doing a couple hours school work each day we were in Singapore,  we rewarded them the last day with a cable car trip to Sentosa island to visit Universal Studios there.  It's smaller than the one in Florida, given space constraints, but packs in a lot.  We loved the new Transformers ride and Sam went on his first upside down looping roller coaster ... at which point he was desperate to go again, only to find that he was actually too small for the ride.

Nighttime is definitely my favourite time to view Singapore .. its a 365 day a year Christmas lights special.  On the last day, I snapped this warship decorated with the words PEACE and the cable cars above look like bubbles floating off it.

 MMMM, more noodles.  Notice that Sam has created a whole new 1-chopstick method of noodle eating

Finally, it was time to move on and we said goodbye to Lucy and the others at Mercury Backpackers hostel - one of the best hostels we've seen, complete with rooftop jacuzzi, plasma screen tvs on each floor, persnalised digital lockers, and great WiFi .. the boys never wanted to leave the hotel!

more Singapore photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/105332575943799967078/201204Singapore