Right, so I promised a lotta pics this post. Well, you got it!
Let's go back to the story of February 28th. "Tried a new beach this weekend....."
Now, I had forgotten the LOVELY trip back from Cat Ba Island to Hai Phong. I was NOT excited about the 30 Kilometer bus ride to the back of the Island to the dock, then the 45 minute jetfoil ride followed by the 40 Kilometer bus ride back to Hai Phong City's Ben Binh Port. So, instead, for a 70,000 Dong fee, my hotel changed my trip back to the jetfoil that LEAVES CAT BA TOWN PROPER (like, three blocks from my hotel) and shoots STRAIGHT INTO Ben Binh port in Hai Phong one hour later. Cool.....changed the ticket, and I was set.
Well, I was told to be AT THE PORT AT 12:15pm for a 12:30pm departure. Cool. So I walk the three blocks to Cat Ba port from my hotel and get there at 12:10pm. So I see a boat that looks kinda old and rickety an' shit waiting there......
I really didn't know - things are really weird and bizarre in Vietnam!! Hell, I don't know - maybe they saved the hull and body and retrofitted this thing with a jetfoil engine (since EVERYTHING here is jury-rigged and slapped together in a half-assed manner). But there it was, sitting there, so I ask somebody who is collecting the tickets from the people: "Hai Phong???"
"Vang....vang...." (yes, yes).
Cool....sounds good to me! Figgured that if it takes off in 20 minutes (12:30pm), that I'll be back easily in time for school at 3PM!
Then, five minutes after I GET ON the barely-seaworthy craft......it starts to move.....
Whaaaa.....? 12:15?? Aw hell, the Vietnamese NEVER follow their schedules......but they are ALWAYS late and NEVER early. THEN, something creeps into the back of my mind.....doubts about this boat......so I look behind me...........
Errmmm.....yeah....that would be the boat that I was SUPPOSED to be on!
No worries, I mean, so, this boat can't take more than, like two hours or so to get to Hai Phong. Jes' enjoy the ride!
And boy, it was First Class all the way -
....but still, I mean, I live for this kinda shit....and it WAS a beautiful ride......
Very mellow....then entire thing reminded me of an Echo and the Bunnymen album cover.....
....then I realised that, according to my GPS, this thing wasn't exactly moving at the speed of sound.......and that I literally coulda out-swam the thing.
Got into Hai Phong three hours later.......half-an-hour late for class.
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Also checked out yet ANOTHER different beach.....
Enjoyed the beach there and the island jungle and such, but I wasn't terribly pleased with the ease (or, actually, lack thereof) of nipping away to Cat Ba for a normal weekend (which, to decipher the boat sailing times and the launching and landing points between Hai Phong and Cat Ba Town, one must proceed to read a Chinese Astrological chart encompassing the date of birth for the vessel in question, and then taking the results to a Buddhist Monk for interpretation - BUT, BUT, only on the second Wednesday of the month AND THEN ONLY when there is a Lunar eclipse somewhere over Antarctica at the same time - the monk will then grant you a certificate proving that you have completed the "Ferry Schedule Interpretation Ritual" and have successfully passed)....and Do Son Beach is just fucking GROSS.
So, I went to try out Halong City.....
....and I discovered paradise.
View from a waterfront wi-fi cafe where I had pints immediately upon arrival.
A view from the cafe of probably thee second-most intimidating bridge that I have ever been on (the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan is easily thee most intimidating).
Hopped across the bridge and hit the beach on the other side.....nice sand, lotsa beer, losta little stands for food and garbage souvenirs......and all this just an hour-an-a-half scooter ride (OK....maybe 1:05 depending on how many speed limits you violate) from Hai Phong with just a ten-minute ferry ride along the way! Be hitting that beach again shortly....
Tales of Thailand coming tomorrow.....
-E-
