Andra & Steve's Journey: Flight to Hanoi and Halong Bay (Wednesday, November 16th, 2016)

It was a very early morning this morning. Our wake up call was at 5:00. Bags had to be outside the room at 5:45 for the porters to pick up and we were on the bus at 6:30 to leave for the airport. I guess it wasn't all that early, the nuns we met yesterday were up an hour and a half before we were, so that puts it all in perspective.

As we drove through town, all of the kids were making their way to school.

And again, we got to see the beautiful views coming over the mountains into Da Nang.

We had already seen this airport, when we landed here four short days ago, so we felt like pros getting checked in for our flight.

It didn't take Steve long to find the coffee stand and order up two iced Vietnamese coffees! Uh oh, I think we're addicted!

I always enjoy flying along the coast. I'm not sure why, but I like it.

We had another good flight on Vietnam Air. They are a no frills airline, so you get a bottle of water and thats it, but all of our flights have been about an hour, so that's about all we need.

As we started descending into Hanoi, it was much less populated than I had expected it to be. I expected a huge city, but a lot of Hanoi is based on farming.

Our flight was on time, so we landed in Hanoi at a little after noon. It's funny how all of these airports are starting to look alike!

Our bus met us at the airport and we began our drive through Hanoi on our way to Halong Bay. As we got on this bus, we realized that this was a special bus. It looked more like a party bus than a tourist bus, and our bus driver was extremely proud of it.

Hanoi is located in the Red River Delta on very low land. There is a lot of agriculture in and around the city because of this. The Red River comes from China and runs through Hanoi before heading into the South China Sea (or as the Vietnamese call it, the East Sea). Unlike the rest of Vietnam, Hanoi has 4 seasons. It is very hot in the summer, but can get down to 45 degrees F in the winter.

The drive from the Hanoi Airport to Halong Bay is only about 120 miles, but all of the roads in between are under construction, so the drive is about 4 hours even with our bus driver pushing it hard!

Something that we didn't think about or expect is that this is the time of year when they burn the rice fields, so the air was heavy with smoke.

The roads were packed with traffic and really not in good shape at all.

And did I mention... There was a lot of smoke!

Halong Bay has become a very busy tourist destination, and the only way to get there at this point is by road. The roads in that area are not big enough to handle all of the new traffic, so they are in the process of expanding them pretty much all the way from Hanoi to Halong Bay.

This time of year in Vietnam is the smoky season, as all of the farmers are burning their rice fields to prepare for their next crops. Their were fires in fields everywhere we looked, and the air was thick with smoke. We didn't think much about it at first, but as we drove further, everyone started having trouble with it. Coughs, scratchy throats and stuffy heads were becoming very common on the bus.

As we drove along, our tour guide provided us with some interesting facts about the Vietnamese people. Most Vietnamese people save about 80% of their earnings, and spend only about 20%. They have to save for education and healthcare. These are both very expensive in Vietnam. Until recently, there was no health insurance in Vietnam, and unless you paid in advance, you would not receive any treatment at all. If you are brought in unconscious, you will be left unattended until a family member shows up who is willing to pay for your care.

The government recently started offering health insurance, but if one person wants it, the entire family has to buy it. Once they have their insurance, they have to go to the hospital that the government chooses for them. Their insurance will cover 80% of anything that needs to be done, but the longer they are insured, the better their coverage becomes.

From 1975 to 1986, there was an economic crisis in Vietnam. Their government at that time did not allow the Vietnamese to own any businesses, and all of their profits went into a pot that was redistributed by the government.

There was no incentive for anyone to work hard, and the entire country became very lazy. Unfortunately, at this point a lot of the people in Vietnam were starving because there wasn't enough food to go around.

In 1986 the Communist Party decided that they needed economic reform. They now encourage people to have their own businesses, and they can profit from what they sell or produce.

Vietnam is now one of the largest rice producers in the world, third only to Thailand and India. They went from not having enough to eat, to exporting food to the rest of the world. And when you look around, the Vietnamese people are much bigger and healthier looking than in the past.

After a long but interesting drive, we arrived at our hotel in Halong Bay at about 4:30 and got checked in. As we walked into to the Royal Lotus Hotel, we could see that there was a sky bar on the 16th floor of our hotel, so while Steve got us checked in, I grabbed Helen and we made our way up to the 16th floor to see what the story was. They had a happy hour from 5:00 to 8:00, and views that were absolutely spectacular, so we decided run to our room to get settled in and then grab a table and enjoy the views for awhile.

As usual, the room did not disappoint, and outside our window was that beautiful view of the bay.

As soon as we could, we left our beautiful room behind and scrambled back up to the rooftop bar.

There was an interesting lake below us. It had gates that they can open and close. When it was high tide, they would open the gates to let the fresh sea water in, but when the tides start to receed, they closed the gates to trap the water in the lake. That way they never had to look at the long empty draw with no water in it.

And from this beautiful roof top bar, we got our first glimpse of Halong Bay. Wow!

And so we sat and enjoyed our little slice of heaven. At first it was just the four of us, but soon we were joined by more friends.

We all sat and watched the sun fade slowly into the tranquil bay.

We stayed as long as we could without missing dinner and then made our way down to the dining room.

After dinner we made our way over to the night market, which wasn't much, but on our way back to the hotel, the moon was putting on a show that lit up our hotel like the tower of terror at the California Adventure Theme Park. It was quite a sight to see, and it just kept getting better!