English version:
The next morning Tam from Wati Tours picked me up at the hostel and we went t
to see the main attraction for me here: the Ha Long Bay…
Wati Tours is a great company, who provides excellent service and really looks after its customers. The list price for this 1 day trip was $65 but I paid less as I booked it through the hostel.
I want to thank Tam and Lily (the other guide) for their efforts. I really enjoyed that day, thanks to them. Both of them are very knowledgeable, thorough and very enthusiastic. Tam, next time I run a sales team you have a job there dude. You are a natural born killer sales, I can tell.
As usual on my trip, we took a minivan to reach our destination. The journey was 3 – 4 hours which gave me enough time to get to know my group. We became big friends with David – the guy from Manchester who has been traveling around in South East Asia for nearly 40 years. We had great time together. There were also really cool folks from Malaysia too.
Once we have arrived, we jumped on our boat and while it was going slowly into the bay, we ate our lunch. Right after that, we switched to smaller bamboo boats and went closer to the rocks. It was driven by a very nice older lady, who sang us Vietnamese songs. Just understood something about the good old communist dude: not Lenin but almost…Ho Chi Minh.
Ha Long Bay is a Unesco World Heritage site and THE tourist icon of South East Asia. It’s nearly 1,600 square kilometres and consists of 2,000 little but very tall lime stone islands and attracts 12,000 tourists per day on average from the galaxy (they even came from Mos Eisley).
The scenery is breathtaking. Although the weather was cloudy, the place was still enjoyable and beautiful. After the bamboo boat, we visited the Heavenly Cave.
Yes, the weather wasn’t great as it is winter here. Not the same winter like we have in Europe or North America but not a good match with my cloths. Temperature was around 18 degrees and sometimes rained. In North and Central Vietnam, there are 4 seasons, but in the South where I am right now it’s only 2: dry and wet seasons.
The way back to Hanoi the U23 team of Vietnam was playing the U23 final against Uzbekistan. Lily 🙂 and the entire country was in football fever. I loved it, the atmosphere was so great. Unfortunately they lost a few seconds before the penalty shootouts, they got a header goal from a corner. What a shame, but great job for the U23 team to got this far.
Once we got back to Hanoi, I was part of the football night. With my big backpack, I sat on a motorbike taxi what was stopped by Lily for me and we went to the train station. The driver dude, took my bigger pack and put it on his lap, while I was behind him with my daypack and my side-bag. And the journey started :DD And there was no freaking mirror on the bike, only horn :DD The best part was when we joined a swarm of football fans on scooters in the traffic. Boys and girls covered in Vietnamese flags, singing about Vietnam. It was unforgettable.
After a dinner close to the station, I got on the sleeper train where my cabin-mates were 2 Vietnamese ladies.
Magyar verzio:
A kovetkezo reggel Tam jott ertem a Wati Tours-tol, hogy elmenjunk megnezni a fo attrakciot amiert Hanoiba utaztam: a Ha Long obolt.
Wati Tours egy nagyon kiraly kis ceg, akik remek szolgatatast nyujtanak es nagyon odafigyelnek vendegeikre. A lista ar erre az 1 napos utra 65 dolcsi, de en sokkal olcsobban jutottam hozza a hostelen keresztul. Ezer koszonet Tamnak es Lilynek (a masik turavezeto) ezert a napert. Mindketten nagyon jol felkeszultek a temaban, nagyon alaposak es szorakoztatoak. Tamnak pedig siman ajanlok egy allast a mindenkori sales csapatomban, mivel neki a kereskedelem a genjeiben van.
Ahogy mar szokasos a kis turam alatt, megint csak egy minibusszal vagtunk neki az utnak, ami kb 3 – 4 oraba telt Hanoibol. Ez ido alatt megismertem csoportom nehany tagjat. Orias haverok a manchesteri kozepkoru Daviddel lettunk, aki kozel 40 eve utazza Del-Kelet Azsiat. Jokat rohogtunk egyutt. Rajta kivul nenany malaj arccal is megismerkedtem.
Megerkezesunk utan hajora szalltunk es, amig az pofogott befele az obolbe, mi szepen megebedeltunk. Ezt kovetoen pedig a hajot levaltottuk kis 4 szemelyes bambusz csonakokra es azzal mentunk kozelebb a hatalmas szikla szigetekhez. A kis evezos hajot egy vietnami neni vezette, aki folyamatos kommunista dalokat enekelt a szuperhos Ho Chi Minh-rol. Lenint nem emlitette.
A Ha Long obol a Unesco Vilag Orokseg resze es Del-Kelet Azsia turista ikonja. 1,600 negyeztkilometernyi teruleten fekszik es kozel 2,000 meszko szigetecsket (inkabb hegyeket) foglal magaba. Ez a gyonyoru latvanyossag atlagosan napi 12,000 latogatot vonz az univerzum minden szegletebol. Meg Mos Eisley-bol is jonnek.
A latvany mindenki szajat tatva hagyja. Sajnos az ido – tel leven – nem volt a legjobb, de igy is nagyon szep es teljesen elvezheto volt a tura.
A bambusz csonak utan bevettuk magunkat a Heavenly barlangba.
Ja, itt tel volt epp. Nem ugyanaz a tel, mint Europaban vagy az USA-ban, de a nyari ruhaimbol sokat magamra kellett huznom. A homerseklet 18 fok korul volt es neha esett. Eszak es Kozep-Vietnamban 4 evszak van, mig delen csak ketto: szaraz es esos.
Az uton vissza Hanoiba azzal telt, hogy mindenki a telefonjat es teveket bamult, mert most jatszottak az U23-as dontot. Vietnam Vs Uzbegisztan. Lily 🙂 es az egesz orszag futball lazban egett. A hangulat nagyon kiraly volt. Sajnos azonban kikapott Vietnam egy gagyi fejes gollal szogletbol, par masodperccel a 11-esek megkezdese elott. Elfaradtak szegenyek, de az is nagy szo, hogy idaig eljutottak es igy is hosokkent unnepeltek oket.
Amint visszaertunk Hanoiba en is reszese lattem a focilaznak. A bazi nagy hatizsakommal felultem egy robogo-taxira, amit Lily allitott meg nekem, hogy eljussak az allomasra. A sofor srac olebe tette a hatizsakomat, en moge ultem hatamon a kis zsakommal es honom alatt az oldaltaskammal…Es akkor megindultunk :DD Es nem volt k… visszapillanto a gepen, csak duda :DD A legszebb resz az volt, amikor beepultunk egy rajnyi fociszurkolo robogos koze. Fiuk es lanyok vietnami zaszlokba burkolozva, enekelve szeltek a varost az esoben. Hatalmas volt.
Egy kellemes vacsi utan, elfoglaltam agyam az alvokabinban a vonatomon, amelyet 2 vietnami holggyel osztottam meg.
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