OUR FIRST PORT IN VIETNAM - CAI LAN - (HANOI)

We arrived in Cai Lan the port city to Hanoi -  The ship offered an 11 hour tour to Hanoi but we decided to take a junk tour of Ha Long Bay -  This bay, off the Gulf of Tonkin is considered one of the World Heritage sites and to be stuck on a bus for 3 hours each way to Hanoi was not appealing. Two of the stops on the Hanoi tour was the "Hanoi Hilton" and the Cu Chi tunnels.  We really did not want to visit these depressing stops and we understand from a couple that went on the tour, that there is still resentment of Americans in Hanoi especially with the film they show proudly of how the Vietcong defended the north in these tunnels from the Americans.

We chose instead a fantastic junk ride into the bay.  To say the least, this 4 hour ride was surreal.  The junks can hold 40 people but ours had about 20 passengers so it made going up to the top deck easy.

The pollution in this country, indeed most of Asia, is incomprehensible to most Americans. The heat and humidity adds to the heaviness of the air, yet there was a breeze that day so it was pleasant.

You cannot believe how crowded the dock was! Like taxi's, they license and limit the number of junks to 500 able to use the docks.  It is on a first come first served basis so the jockeying for position is incredible.  They are side by side by side by side when at the dock waiting to pick up tourists.

Below - Len caught this fellow trying to squeeze in between 2 junks! He did muscle his way in!

Once we set out into the harbor these are small skiffs that come up to the junks trying to sell fruits or to beg for money. Imagine the congestions in the harbor with boats going every which way.  It is tough to watch women and children risking their lives to earn a living.  Look at the picture of the condition of her boat in the 2nd picture.

There are junks that people live aboard and don't use the docks - but almost everyone has a cell phone. The phones are inexpensive and a chip costs about $10 for a month.

Below is what one of the squid fishing boats look like during the day. 

Well the bay was everything we had read about and more!  There are about 3000 limestone mountains in Vietnam - none volcanic in origin and almost 2000 are in this bay.  It is surreal and the mist added to the images burned into our brains.

I don't understand how the captains of the junks don't get lost - these mountains go on and on and

there is a different scene at each turn.

In the middle of these islands is a fish market.  They catch the fish and store them in these floating

nets and people come up in their boats to the nets to pick out their live fish to take home.

They even have their dog on board.

It was truly an amazing experience.  There was silence on the deck each time we turned around a bend.

We arrived back at the dock and boarded the bus to take us back into town.  The town is small and clean and they derive much of their income from tourists.  We took a taxi to a casino in a brand new Sherston hotel facing the water.  The cab cost $3.00 and it was spotless clean with the driver in a white shirt and tie who got out to open the doors.

Well their slot machines were terrible and Len insisted I play blackjack. I did and won $50. We left

We went back to the bus stop where there was a souvenir market.  Like everywhere else that has things for sale the salespeople are quite aggressive and try to pull you into their stalls.

We came across one stall that had antiques and sitting in the case were 2 American dog tags. The woman wanted $25. each - ridiculous! I offered her $5.00 each and she turned me down. We turned and walked away a few steps.  I put $15 on the counter next to the dog tags and I could see she was looking and thinking.   I said loudly "this is it!"  she grudgingly took the money.

We understand that there is an on line site that returns dog tags to the original owners or family members and we thought it appropriate to give them to this site.  I hope that they can be reunited with the families.

It was slightly cool and I made the mistake of wearing my "pin" jacket.  (see below)  Well the people at the market grabbed me, talking very animatedly to one another, yelling and turning me around to look at all the pins and where was my Vietnam pin they wanted to know.  They did not have one to buy.  

Len had to stand behind me and walk me to the bus stop.  You would think I was a circus freak! It was a little intimidating .

The very last pin on the left side is a north Vietnamese medal.  One of the crew bought it for me - I would not buy any medals from the north!  They were bought in Saigon. (I still have to blog about Saigon)

This was a wonderful port.