Although I had planned to leave for Halong Bay right after I returned from Sapa, I could not. There was a supposed typhoon that kept all visitors away for a day. I used this day to hand wash my laundry and allow the typical travelers sickness to catch up with me. Ha ha hanoi! The next day, I left at 7:30 am on a bus to Halong Bay. It took about three and a half hours before we were dropped off at the port. After waiting around in the sun, we boarded the beautiful boat Ju Chiang 16. Lunch was served on the boat, and we started drifting through magical island land & waterscapes. After lunch we stopped off at some of the biggest caves I've ever seen (recently the biggest cave in the world was discovered somewhere in Vietnam - maybe its in one of these islands??). The entrance to the cave was a long pathway of small stairs and shops, with what seemed to be a version of "Its a Small World After All" playing in Vietnamese. Wow. Not only were these caves full of awesome stalagtites, the Vietnamese governement wanted to really make sure that visitors got a good view of all of them. What a better way to do this than with neon lights?! Hundreds and hundreds of neon lights were strung around the cave, giving pictures a disneyesque feel to them. I half expected the blue and purple llama to be rocking back and forth on the top of the highest peaks. At the end of the first cave, a fake fountain sprayed, reflecting the neon like a disco ball, keeping up the visitors' jolly mood upon exiting. The second cave had no lights, but was equally impressive. I felt like I was experiencing an hour in the life of someone with colorblindness. By the time I made it out, I realized that I was one of the only ones on our tour to see the second cave, so everyone was already back on the boat. Uh-oh. With the help of a local, I jumped from boat to boat, splitting my pants and eventually making it back on to my boat before it pulled away. Here we relaxed on a cruise.
Let me start this next paragraph with a preface, I don't hate americans. Not all americans act the way I am about to describe, but some do. For this, the story must be told.
I was on the boat with 15 americans, two australians, Syril (israeli), an Indian, and two Scotts. I wish I could say that I had a good time, full of cross-cultural stories and experiences and communication. What ended up happening, as I've come to realize does with any group of americans, was it turned out to be all about them and their culture. First off... americans speak REALLY loudly. I mean... REALLY loudly. So loudly in fact, that when other americans rode by on other boats, both boats heard eachothers' stories and started chanting, "USA, USA, USA..." Now, although Vietnam has been through two other wars since the one we so royally ditched them on, pro-American sentiment is not the highest it could be, and I had been wary of saying I was american to everybody. I looked around from my deck chair to see the underdeveloped cranial structures of these american men pounding on their chests and grunting their respective cities, followed by a "Wohooo, born in the USA." Deep Breath. Secondly, not only do americans talk loudly, they talk about everything personal in their lives, to anyone. This is a trait I possess. I am not afraid to say words like bloated and poop and fart and vomit, etc. With this lack of boundary, occasionally comes the lack of self control. I was sitting at a dinner table with 5 other people. We were talking about the mafia, of course, when Chicago came up. Natural. The boy next to me (with said facial structure of astralopithecis) was from Chicago. Tapan, originally from India, but lived, learned, and worked in America for the past 10 + years, asked, "Justin, are you from outside of the city?" Justin, grunting, looked at Tapan and started to shout, "You brown piece of shit. Get out of my country. I'll fucking knife your throat." Now... maybe I don't understand the intracacies of their relationship, but this felt like a slight overreaction. Needless to say, when the conversation wasn't full of racial slurs or patriotic displays it remained on weight and fashion and how weird the people from the new culture were, other favorite american topics.
Imagine a recent season of MTV Real World taking place in the most gorgeous place in the world. It just doesn't make sense. Its like eating foie gras with a tootsie pop. Bleghh.
It wasn't all bad, however. I got to do some kayaking around the islands with Syril. We watched some of the americans tip their kayak on purpose and almost drown. Some french guys saved them, which blew their mind, because all americans think that french are jerks. I also got to wake up at 6:30am to go swimming around the boat and even up to an island, whose rocks were so jagged they cut my feet, and I felt fresh.
Since then, I made it back to Hanoi and flew to Ho Chi Minh. Talk about a change. <3
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