Halong Bay

Dopo un mese di Vietnam turistico inseguiti e perseguiti da una schiera di Vietnamiti che ha decisamente ed inconfutabilmente rinnegato le proprie origini rosse per abbracciare con entusiasmo il capitalismo dilagante......non vediamo l'ora di emigrare. Stanchi di essere visti slamente come un assegno in bianco deambulante, stanchi di dover lottare e negoziare ogni minima transazione, stanchi di essere il continuo bersaglio di truccheti da ladruncoli di quartiere, contiamo i minuti dalla nostra dipartita. Prima di andare ci occorre compiere un ultimo sforzo: HA LONG BAY, riconosciuto dall'Unesco come uno dei patrimoni naturali dell'umanita'.

La prima piacevola sorpresa e' scoprire che Guy e Vastla no nhanno ancora "finito di seguirci". Abbiamo gia' accennato come tutti in Vietnam seguano un po' la stessa rotta, e come si finisca inevitabilmente incontrarsi ongi 3/4 giorni in una citta' diversa. GUy e Vastla....ogni 3 giorni li incontriamo. Ancora una volta, pur avendo prenotato la gita ad Ha long utilizzando agenzie diverse.....ci ritroviamo insieme.

La baia e' magnifica e la nostra barca e' piena di gente simpatica. Ci aspettano due giorni di navigazione in mezzo a sti paesaggi da film con una ciurma simpatica e ....scatenata. Potrebbe andarci peggio!!!!

La Baia e' talmente bella. Nonostante il tempo non sia dei migliori la bellezza della baia rimane incontestabile. Qui sotto un piccolo villaggio sull'acqua.

As all people do when in Vietname, we decided to go to Halong Bay. And as with all other tourists we booked ourselves on a 2 day one night boat tour. As you will see from the photos above, we were lucky enough to run into Guy and Vastla whom we had first met on the bus from Nha Trang to Hoi Ann and then subsequently met repeatedly as we travelled up the coast. The bay was wonderful although we had some 'fun' with tour guides.

Basically they decided to play their usual silly Vietnamese games whereby they sell you a tour which includes all transport plus a night on the boat and meals. Then when you arrive they want to charge you extra for transport and meals and there are not enough rooms on the boat for all the people so some have to go to the hotel on the island.

Unfortunately, our guide had an unfortunate way of communicating with tourists, having learnt his manners in a Vietnamese re-education camp (he was undoubtedly a guard). This obviously ingratiated him with said tourists such that when he ordered several members off the boat to sleep in the hotel, one Polish man decided to confirm his desire to stay on the boat by grabbing the guides shirt and making his point up close and personal.

Needless to say, the guard/ guide wasn't used to this sort of behavour (no doubt his former charges were more compliant). As such he took offence, stormed downstairs, only to return with a lead pipe and the conviction that braining tourists was good for business.

Thankfully a few of the more level headed people amongst us (not me as I was cheering them on from the sidelines) decided that fighting might spoil the mood and calmed things down. Our Polish friend eventually apologised for wanting what he paid for and left the boat. The rest of us continued the trip which was relatively uneventful...

None the less the episode will remain with us as one of the finer examples of Vietnamese hospitality and truly a wonderful demonstration of how to build good will among clients.

Trackback URL: http://www.travelogue-blog.com/trackback.php?id=476