Saturday, February 29, 2020

On The Road To Ha Long

Vicki had booked us into a three-day cruise on Bai Tu Long Bay, followed by a couple days' light trekking in Sapa, up in the mountains. Travel to and from both places was to be by a "luxury" van, seating 9 in a pinch, but normally 6 or fewer. So on February 20th, we stowed some of our gear at the O'Gallery and then rode, in luxury, to Ha Long, the port from which the Halong Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay cruises depart. The road to Ha Long was memorable, for the luxury, the scenery (rice paddies), the company (especially a nice couple from Durham (England)), and the stops...one at an interesting bus-stop/shopping mega-center, the other for lunch and the long-awaited water puppet show. The latter will require its own separate post. Of course.
Interior of one of the four luxury vans we used; the ceiling
lights of course changed colors, from yellow, to green, to
pink, to blue, etc. We turned the TV off before any other
passengers loaded


























After the hour it took us to get out of Hanoi, the scenery turned to rice paddies,
some with towns




















Some with cemeteries



















Towns


















Interesting monuments and architecture



















Traffic








































And more rice paddies














At length, we turned into this unpromising-looking place, evidently a plant for
the fabrication of sculpture and lawn ornaments and such; our first rest-stop






































Carrara?
























Not the old-fashioned way
























All kinds of cool Asian lawn and shrine ornaments



















If too big for your suitcase, easily shipped back home



















Satisfied customers



















But wait! There's more! Under one football field sized roof, practically every
kind of product you can buy in Vietnam: clothing, hats, shoes, jewelry, food,
souvenirs, booze (including a cafe and full bar), art, candy, you name it




















You can even buy pickled cobra  (tastes like pickled chicken
I was told)
An amazing, not to be missed place; after 30 minutes' restful shopping, we were
back on our way













































Fortunately, luxury vans don't stop at places like this


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