Long,trip,report,2009,......Th travel,insurance Ha Long trip report 2009
Torres del Paine is among the biggest of Chiles 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 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
......The driver made one stop along the way at a big souvenir emporiumfor tourists. We appreciated the bathroom break and Jeane browsedquickly. She saw a small red lacquerware vase that she really liked andI told her to buy it, since she might not see it again. Good call. 15minutes later we were moving again. We arrived at the cruise waitingarea just shortly before noon. I neglected to mention that we wereoriginally booked in the single suite on the Valentine, a small shipwith only 5 rooms, including the suite. Unfortunately, I had receivedan e-mail from Tonkin two days prior saying it was not to be and thatIndochina Sails had offered an alternative, a suite on the brand new(but larger) Indochina Sails III. Tonkin felt that I should go for itonly if we could do it at half price to compensate and I agreed.Indochina Sails also arranged for a bottle of Chilean Red in our suitefor our troubles.From the waiting area there is a shuttle boat to take passengers tothe ship. We departed just before 12:30. After boarding the ship,orientation and check-in were relatively quick and painless. While theship was bigger than we would have liked, our a/c suite was very nice king size bed, rain forest shower, plus a jacuzzi bath and a smallprivate deck. There was also a safe and a minibar in the room. Lunchwas the first activity of the cruise and it was aninternational/Vietnamese set menu, not a buffet. Very nice. The priceof the cruise was all inclusive, except for drinks and kayaking.There were two afternoon activities first, a trip to Titop Island,named after a Soviet astronaut who visited there with Ho Chi Minh andsecond, kayaking at the Hang Doi Bat Cave area. It was pretty overcastwith a few rain drops as we climbed the several hundred steps to thetop of the mountain on Titop Island. In spite of the haze, the viewswere pretty good so we took some photos. The late afternoon kayakingwas better the ship's guide was helpful, we were in a good group andthe skies had cleared somewhat. The lagoon and surrounding waters arevery quiet it was nice to get away from it all as Halong Bay had beenvery busy. Our guide took some great photos of Jeane and I in ourkayak. Kayaking cost $10US extra per person.Back on the ship, we relaxed with our own cocktails in the room aswe cruised toward our anchoring destination for the night. Afterward,we enjoyed a food carving demonstration, followed by a nice buffetdinner. We skipped the movie afterward, "The Quiet American" (I have iton DVD at home) and turned in early.We awoke at about 5:30 the next morning (Sunday, 4/12), showered andgot ready for the day. The ship pulled up its anchor shortly thereafterand we headed towards our next destination, a small fishing village andthe Surprise Cave. Coffee and pastries were put out at 6:45. Jeane andI entertained ourselves by photographing the fishing village while wewaited for the 8 AM transfer to the Cave. We spent about an hour at thecave, which is actually a series of 3 large caves with the surprisebeing the size and scope of it all. The caves were enhanced withartificial lighting. Steps and handrails were in place where it wasnecessary to climb. The ship's guide gave us some history of the cavesand pointed out the various formations inside.We returned to the ship for our final meal, a buffet breakfast whichincluded omelets made to order not as good as the Metropole's buffetbut fine none-the-less. The ship's crew requested that we put out ourlarger bags before breakfast for transfer to the pier. After breakfastwe returned to our room to find that housekeeping was already startingto clean it. We used the public facilities instead and retired to thesundeck to relax and settle our bill while we approached the pier.Our driver was waiting for us at the pier and the ship's guidehelped us with our bags. I gave him a tip and bid him farewell. Theone-night, two day cruise had been just perfect. We would not havewanted to stay an additional night. The return drive was fairly quickand uneventful. We made the obligatory stop at the overpriced souvenirplace but did not linger. I think Jeane would have liked to have spentmore time there but I just don't care for these places on principle.Reported by CraigRelated to Ha Long bay:Ha Long CruiseHa Long Kayaking
Long,trip,report,2009,......Th