March 8 to 12

Andrew arrived in HCMC Friday and Andrew and I left for Halong Bay on Sunday. We had planned 3 days of kayaking in the bay of islands. We arrived in Halong city Sunday evening. We had to modify our adventure since there is no kayaking allowed where we wanted to go – so we ended up taking a 2 day kayaking vacation on Cat Ba island. Getting there was easy but not straightforward. We paid our money to a young man called Tu and we magically appeared in the Khang Hong hotel 8 hours later. Tu had a taxi pick us up, he walked us across the road, handed us off to guide number 2 who put us on his boat. Halfway to Cat Ba we stopped for a cave viewing, then we got switched to another boat with no guide in sight. When the boat landed on Cat Ba we were put on a bus by some unknown and then dropped off at a hotel 40 minutes later. I tested the system by trying to get off at the wrong hotel but the driver motioned me to stay on the bus. The hotel seemed to expect us and since it was right on the waterfront and since they advertised kayaks for rent it seemed like the right place.


The next morning when we asked where our kayak was he told us to come down to the lobby at 8:30. We showed up and they put us on 2 motorcycle taxis for a 10 minute ride to a different beach. Here we got outfitted with a kayak, oars and lifejackets and we were off. By the time we made it out of the harbour we felt like experts. My navigation seemed to work and we were soon approaching the wide-open China Sea. As the swell changed from 3 feet to 5 feet I decided we were better off on the inland passage instead of the open seas and we retreated to lee side of the islands.
There are about 1,900 islands in Halong Bay. Most are sheer limestone karsts rising out of the water. Most of the rocks are inaccessible however there are sandy beaches scattered around the islands. The whole bay is a world heritage site but it is a thriving commercial enterprise. There seems to be a floating village around every corner. There are hundreds of fish farms every kilometre. There are people digging in every mud flat and sand bank looking for clams, snails and other “fish”. If it moves the Vietnamese eat it. We stopped at 3 beaches to rest up and explore. We found a whole community farming clams inside one secluded bay


Coco: That night we went to a recommended restaurant for supper. As I sat down I knocked over the white cane of the girl beside me. I apologized, picked it up and put it back behind her chair. She didn’t seem to notice. About 30 minutes later after Andrew and I had been served, she handed me a note. She was from Canada – where did I come from? I immediately answered “Canada” very loudly. She didn’t understand, so I said “CANADA” a lot louder, but she still looked confused. She handed me the paper again and a pen so I wrote the answer. She burst into laughter and started writing another note and conversation flowed. Coco is deaf and mute. A few years ago she was diagnosed with “retinale pigmentosa” (more or less) so she is going blind and can only see a small square directly ahead. She read our notes with a magnifying glass. She is on a 5-month world tour by herself as a last fling before she is completely blind in about 2 years. She has worked in the US and Nigeria helping so set up programs for the deaf and mute. At 30 years old she has been to 40 US states and 50 countries. She is giving a presentation at a conference in Phnom Penn next week.
Andrew and Coco were exchanging notes at such a rate that the waitress brought a stack of used bills to keep the table in paper. When we got to the Canada-US hockey game we stood up up gave high-5’s all around. That’s when the American-Australian couple got involved and moved to our table. By the time we had finished the evening the table was beer bottle deep in used paper and empty beer bottles. We had a special night with a special person and may Coco have a good life if she ever settles down in Ottawa.


On Thursday we returned to Halong city. I left Andrew in Halong city and headed back to HCMC.