Tour,Halong,Bay,bike,sitting,u travel,insurance A Tour of Halong Bay

Like any American, traveling occasionally is just what I love doing and I bet you share the same stuff with me. But traveling does not mean that you would be safe. Escaping from our job and other stressful activities is just something that w Torres del Paine is among the biggest of Chile’s national parks, occupying almost 600,000 acres (242,000 ha) of land in the south on the border with Argentina. It is also among the most important, receiving a significant proportion of domes

My bike is sitting un-used in my room, waiting for aride. I have not cycled since arrival in Hanoi as it looks to be quitea big challenge to navigate the horrible traffic congestion out onthose streets. It is the worst I've ever seen, and I've been to quite anumber of third world countries. It is a total free-for-all out there.Accidents are commonplace, much like bumper cars, except with bicycles,motor bikes, and pedestrians running into each other. Iwas up early for an all day guided tour to Halong Bay. The cost was $29and included lunch. I originally had planned on cycling out to Halongand then spending a couple of days exploring that area, but I'm alreadya couple of days behind my planned time for this trip and by taking acommercial tour, it will get me back on track. At 6:30am I took theelevator down to the lobby, it was pitch back inside and outside, nolighting in the lobby at all. The front doors were locked and closedshutters blocked the view to the street. As I got used to the darknessand looked around the lobby, I could make out people sleeping on cotsand also that there were a number of motor bikes parked in the lobbytoo. I stood around wondering how I was going to get outside where Iwould be picked up by the tour company mini-van. Soon, a few of thosesleeping bodies began to stir and awaken. Within a few minutes theywere all getting off their cots, turning on the lights, folding thecots up along with their bedding, and preparing for the work day ahead.These people were all hotel employees, and I surmised that this hotelis also their home. What a way to exist! I'm sure many other employeeslive in the same manner at other businesses. The tour van came by at exactly 7:30am and we headed east out of thecity on our way to the Gulf of Tonkin, 115 miles away. We soon crossedover the Red River, named not for political reasons, but because of amineral in the river that turns the water a red color. The trip toHalong would take 3 1/2 hours and part way our group of 8 touristsstopped at a small village for a tour of a cottage industry. Thisoccurred I would guess, because the driver would get a commission onwhatever we would purchase while shopping there. It seems that everyvillage produces or manufactures a particular product or item, and inthis case it was a village of silk weavers and embroiders. I mustadmit, these artists did amazing work. When given a small 6 inchphotograph, they would embroider a duplicate scene to a size of 12inches, or up to a three foot size reproduction in perfect detail,using about 100 stitches or more per inch. You could stand a foot awayand not be able to tell that it was not an enlargement of the photo, ora very good oil reproduction. I was really impressed with the qualityand would have loved to have purchased one, but such is my limitationwhen touring by bicycle. Space is always a big consideration and at apremium, with no extra room for non-necessities. When one of thesemasterpieces is finished, it is fairly weighty and quite stiff, so theycannot be rolled into a smaller package. After that break, we continued on. I found myself sitting next to ayoung gal from Canada named Jennifer. She is working in Vietnam and wason a break, therefore taking today's tour. Her job description issomething we would all probably love. She works for an internationalfive star hotel chain and therefore travels world wide checking intothe company's hotels, incognito, and spending five days at each one.She uses all the amenities the hotel offers in addition to eating intheir restaurants, and then writes a report on her findings. After afive day stay, she flies on to the next one. All her expenses are paid,and she gets a salary in addition. I didn't know such a job existed!She told me she is due for a vacation soon, and I asked her where shewill go on a vacation as it appeared to me that she is on a perpetualvacation. He favorite vacation spot... Thailand! Mine too! Then shetold me that when she goes on a vacation, she never stays in a fivestar accommodation, even with a big discount, she prefers smaller,unique accommodations with a local atmosphere instead of the same-sameaccommodations of the big chain hotels. She asked me for somesuggestions on places to go and places to stay in Thailand, and Ioffered her some advice on great locations like Koh Samui, and Phuketwhich are a couple of my favorite places to visit. After our little shopping spree, we continued on. This mini-van driverwas much more sane than the insane driver I had from the airport. Atone point we passed a truck load of ducks, each one was placed in awhite sack with a slit for the duck's head. There must have been atleast a thousand birds packed on that truck and all their heads werebobbing up and down and darting in every which direction. We were allamused at that sight. Legend says that a huge dragon ran down from thehighest mountains and into the sea at Halong Bay. On it's way down themountainside, the dragon's immense tail was swaying to and fro andthereby digging very deep valleys and raising the soil to form highermountains. These deep valleys were then filled with sea water and thataction created the 3,000 islands that make up Halong Bay. When we arrived at the pier on the bay shore, we were divided into 3groups, so each group had it's own guide/translator. Each group alsohad it's own boat. The group I was in boarded a 40 foot long convertedjunk that was actually pretty nice with a lower deck that served as adinning room, and an open air upper deck which was for lounging. Ourguide's name was Tom. Tom was a girl. Of course I teased her about thename, and she would just look at me with a 'I don't understand look'. Ididn't think she knew anything about teasing, so I explained that I wasjust having fun with her name. She told me she loved Americans! We were served a great meal in the dinning room of the boat. There were6 large plates of food, served family style, plus rice and drinks. Theboat trip took us through a number of islands and we all relaxed on theteak lounges on the top deck. The trip took a couple of hours, thescenery was magnificent and the sea was calm and clear. We docked atone of the islands and then climbed a long staircase up the side of amountain and entered some huge caverns. The caves were illuminated andhad nice tiled pathways and stairs. The caverns were immense, so largethat it was hard to realize their actual size. Tom gave us a runningcommentary, but her English was difficult to understand, so we didn'tlearn much. This trip to Halong Bay is considered the number onetourist destination in all of Vietnam. In 1994 this area was designateda World Heritage Site and became protected, that shows the importanceof this beautiful spot. We got back to Hanoi late in the day, about 8:30pm, and the driverunloaded all of us at a central location, not at each of our hotels. Iwas ravished by hunger by this time of day. Our drop-off location wasnear the lake so there were numerous restaurants to choose from. Ichose "Mama Romas", a great choice, if I say so myself. The Ambiancewas very nice, right out of Italy. There was a solo violinist playingsoft romantic music right across from my table. The meal I ate wasbetter than meals I got when visiting Italy! The only thing I missedwas my sweetie who could be sitting in the vacant chair at my table. Bythe time I walked back to my hotel, the street sweepers, with broomsand shovels were out in force. It's a big job picking up all the trashthat is deposited in the gutters and on the streets in this city.During the daytime, people toss all kinds of trash and garbage into thestreets and there are piles of stinking garbage everywhere bynightfall. By morning, everything has been cleaned up. Recommended vessels on Halong bay, Vietnam: Overnight luxury cruise on Halong Bay: Indochinasails [email protected]; www.indochinasails.com More cruises on Halong Bay: Vietnam Cruise or Huong Hai Junk Article Tags: There Were