Halong Bay

It was a four hour bus ride from Hanoi to Halong Bay on the coast.  Our guide used this time to tell us his personal story of escaping from Vietnam after the Communist reunification.  Ethan's father worked for an American company prior to the war, and he was eligible to leave Vietnam, but he chose not to leave, thinking that it would not be so bad under communism.  Ethan explained to us that people were encouraged to turn themselves in to the communist officials for re-education that was supposed to last for one week to one month, but ended up lasting for years for many people.

Life under communism was very difficult so Ethan's parents decided to risk paying smugglers to try to get their two oldest sons out of the country so they could help their family from abroad.  At the last minute, the younger of the two sons could not be found (turns out he didn't want to leave his girlfriend), so 11 year old Ethan was sent.

Ethan detailed his harrowing four days at sea, the rescue by Panamanian oil rig workers, the abuse by Indonesian refugee officials and his three years in a refugee camp.  

The junk we sailed on was converted from a cargo ship to sleep passengers as it cruises through this beautiful bay was unusual geological formations.  The cabins were tiny, with private bathrooms that were minuscule, but adequate.  We had three meals on board that were okay.  The first afternoon that we sailed was quite chilly, but the sun was warm the following morning and we enjoyed sitting out on the deck and watching the surreal landscape glide by.

We made two stops on the way to the airport.  Lunch was at a large tourist center at sold souvenirs made by handicapped people.  The embroidery was beautiful, but very expensive.  We also did an impromptu stop at a Catholic Church.  One of the church caretakers greeted us and invited us into,her home.  She had a pig and chickens and pigeons in her yard and poured home made rice wine for all.  The church lets single mothers and their children sleep in the church and we watched the little boys playing soccer and the little girls playing what we used to call "Chinese jumprope" with long stretchy rope.

Here is the woman from the church who invited us into her home

I am writing this post on the airplane that is taking us south to the city of Hue where we have a very busy day tomorrow starting with sightseeing in the morning, a visit to an orphanage in the afternoon and a water puppet show in the evening.

If I don't get a chance to upload the photos from the cruise tonight, check this post again tomorrow or the next day.