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My dear and wonderful son woke up at 2:40am wide awake, ready to play, chatting about cars. Not EXACTLY what I had in mind when I wanted a good night's sleep before our Halong Bay day, Wilder….
At 5:00am, the final patrons are finishing up dinner and the plastic stools and tables are being put away the only remnants of the stand-up restaurants being the litter. Some stalls are beginning to open and prepare vegetables for the breakfast and lunch crowds. Large bins of bok choy and a vine similar to pea vine are being chopped. I think about all the fancy kitchen gadgets we have back home in our fancy kitchens and still I cannot make stir fry like they do on the street with their lone blade, wok, open flame, and a couple bottles of sauces for flavor. Then, I think about what a baby I am about cooking in my hot house during summer and here they sit over an open flame all day in the heat and humidity cooking for what amounts to be a buck a dish. These are the realizations I hope the girls get while we're here.
Halong Bay is about 100 miles to the east of where we're staying on the coast of Vietnam and is the point at which the ascending dragon of Hanoi descends. I opted not to book a tour with other people and instead opt for a private car and boat. That decision was logistical (not anti-social, I think) because of traveling with a baby, but then turned out to bring about my inner Beyonce when I saw the large boat that was all ours that came with a staff equal to our party and many, many dishes of food for lunch. I could get used to this.
Halong Bay is islands in every direction - there are over 1900 of them. Our first stop is a large cave built by fisherman within one of the islands. Our guide informs us we need to walk up first, then down into the cave. Not a big deal, I'm thinking, even with Wilder in the pack on my back. That is….until I saw what he meant by "up". Steep, steep, many stairs. As my legs are burning halfway in, I just keep thinking to myself "its fine, we just go up once and then down". I'm not entirely sure why I thought that since he didn't say that and, as it turns out, that was wrong. Despite the burning legs and what was now an insane amount of sweat on my body, the caves are amazing. There are preserved areas with sections of rock that resemble animals. Some, being very lucky, such as the turtle. We leave the turtle a little Dong for good luck and a long life.
At the end, we reach a crossroads and are told that to the left is hell and to the right is the stairway to heaven. Now listen, I'm ALL for avoiding hell, but it is another HUGE AND STEEP staircase. I give myself a pep talk and start up - I guess you can't reach heaven without a little hell first. We are rewarded with a very cool view of Halong Bay before we descend down an equally steep staircase on the outside of the island and return to our boat.
What follows is a brief kayak ride - somewhat because I'm completely exhausted from the caves and somewhat because I'm getting drenched with water and have no change of clothes. The car ride back provides a nap under a napping baby and beef street BBQ for a late dinner.
- comments
Shannon Morrison Sounds absolutely beautiful, rewarding and you go with your inner Beyoncé! PS that picture of Wilder couldn't be any cuter!
Patti too funny. I may have to figure out how to channel my inner Beyonce!