How long is the Ha Long boat trip?

Like some other World Child groups before us, yesterday our group of five families--with eight babies total--made the trip by minibus to Ha Long Bay. Three and a half hour drive each way; the first hour follows the route to Lang Son, but the second two hours are on a bumpy highway. We were in the back row, and it was really bouncy--like seasick bouncy. We held on to the babies carefully.








The boat ride--on a tourist "junk"--was 6 hours; we had been told it would be five. Four would be about right. Cost was $30 per person--adults. We arrived at the dock at noon. Tables were set for us, and a half hour into the trip lunch was served--and served and served and served. They kept bringing more plates. The seafood included crabs, shrimps, and a big fish. I must have been busy eating, because I forgot to photograph the table when all the food had arrived. After I took the first picture, I kept thinking, I better take another. I never did.

As we arrived to our first stop, I made a joke to our server and our guide that I couldn't get off the boat because I was still eating. The guide seemed hurt. "You must go to the cave!" she insisted. She went and talked to the food staff.






All the babies and families walked up the steps of an island mountain and into a cave. Peggy said that it made her think right away of Flo Vaughan -- she would have loved this cave. The signs, we figured out, were asking us not to leave grafitti or carve our initials into the rocks. It was an amazing walk, but Luc got tired and we hurried through.

When we got back on the boat, all the tables had been cleared, except for ours. My half eaten fish--fish head intact--was still there. Peggy told me to stop making jokes, especially ones that involve irony, that no one in Vietnam will understand. But when I explained to Martin what had happened, he explained to the guide. Everyone laughed. But Peggy is probably right.










The boat took us past a floating village--supported by the government, as our guide explained. She also pointed out another cave, an opening visible from a distance, which she said was the setting for a James Bond movie, perhaps the first one with Sean Connery? It made sense to me...








The final stop was TipTop Island, where Ho Chi Minh met with the Soviet delegation to seal their alliance. That alliance founded Vietnam as a Soviet-style socialist country; the gold and scarlet and hammer and sickle of the international socialist revolution are still everywhere here. It was also the basis of the famous "domino theory"that justified the Vietnam War.













We were invited to climb to the top of the mountain island; there is a beach at the bottom. Peggy and I had a plan that one of us would quickly climb and return, then the other one. But Luc got really cranky, crying and crying. Maisie wasn't doing so well, either. Peggy never even got off the boat; I carried Luc off, then returned, and walked around on the top deck for the next hour and a half because it was the only way to keep him from screaming.





Remember the two days for a bowel movement issue? It had been three days. Don't worry we dealt with it today, and we think we have that one under control.

The three and a half hour ride home went better than might have been expected. I had to find a position that Luc liked, or else he cried. We did all right. Five of the other eight babies did their share of crying, as well.

It was a relief to get home. We were all exhausted.

The trip was worth it. But don't ask us to do it again tomorrow...