The next day we take a bus to go to Halong Bay. On the way there we stop off a large pseudo factory/mall in the middle of nowhere which housed an area with children who were learning art skills and producing paintings and artwork very similar to those velvet paintings you see being sold on the side of the road. These kids sit all day at these long tables reproducing images from torn pages of magazines and famous pieces of art. These areas took up about 15% of the building. The remaining part of the building was filled with other stuff for sale including furniture, marble statues, snacks, and fabrics.
Instead of art, we of course, bought two large bags of snacks which would both haunt and delight us through the rest of the trip. Also the drink below:
Not sure what winter melon is and this tasted like a sweetened barley tea drink. For some reason I thought it would taste like watermelon or mountain dew.
After a couple more hours on the bus. We get to the boat.
we board on a creaky makeshift plank that really didn’t look like it could hold my weight.
So we start chugging along to get to the meaty part of the bay which is apparently full of limestone islands, formations and caves.
LUNCH!
Crab (duh). Tasty and whole. I like the brains.
Bowl of water with lime which we eventually figured out was to wash our crabby hands and not limeade.
Pile of steamed shrimp. pretty tasty and thank god for the lime water bowl since it is messy. I don’t usually like the high work to edible flesh ratio of shellfish but somehow being on a boat made it all right for me.
Spring rolls: These were served at almost every meal. Pretty good, but they eventually all blended together in the upcoming days.
Squid stirfry – this was mildly seasons but serviceable and fresh.
Whole fish of some type. Forgot to snap a pic when it was whole. This was very tasty steamed with lemongrass and lots of fresh spices. I nearly choke on a bone.
Cruising through the islands of the bay. The below is sort of a floating 7-11 but instead of selling Slushees and donuts they sell live fish and produce. The red flag with the yellow star means quality!
The massive limestone cave on one of the islands. Full of tourists. It was like being in a mall. I’m surprised there wasn’t an IMAX theater or Starbucks in there. I slowly eye the other tourists and plan which ones I could overpower and eat in case of a cave-in.
The fertility rock conveniently lit up. But inconveniently too high to do an obscene forced perspective shot. But that didn’t mean we didn’t try.
Yes, all those boats are full of tourists.
Snack time!
Oreo knockoffs. These were horrible. Tasted like shortening. We unloaded this later on some village kids.
One of the many regional beers. I drank a lot of beer. Saved my bottled water for brushing my teeth.
The center island below is something called the 500 steps or something. I actually climbed that thing and nearly felt like I was going to die. Halfway up I thought about all the Discovery Channel Everest docs that I have seen…and beer. The weather was freezing but by the time I got to step 366 I was sweating and nearly shirtless.
DINNER!
Stuffed Crab shell. Hmm no brains.
Shrimp cocktail.
A “salad” of tomato, cukes, and mayonnaise. We were all conditioned by Lonely Planet not to eat stuff like this since it may have amoebas that will make us ill. Don’t like mayo anyway.
Another whole fish! Unfortunately I had to share with the other people on the table.
Some kind of crab fritter. See that little dish in the corner, that was full of salt , chili and a half kumquat. Squeezing the kumquat over the salt made a delicious citrusy dipping sauce for the shellfish.
Stirfry veggies. This like the springroll is served almost every meal at our sit down meals.
After dinner it was time to retire to our quarters.
END DAY 3
You may want to check out:
Joe, who played LT’s role in your “forced perspective” shot attempt?
Oooo, the food looks fresh & yummy. No Puppy Soup or Kitty Stirfry that day, huh?
MOTO would hate on the cave, I just know it.
The cave is just one of the many things in that place Moto would hate on. No offense to Mr. Gnash…
None taken. I showed him the pics of meat sold roadside and he started gagging. He wouldn’t do well in his native land.