Kayaking at Last!
Hanoi, Vietnam
May 11, 2009
We woke up at 6 am when the junk started up. We had breakfast at 7 am - omelettes with chives, bacon, cucumber, tomato, bread, cheese, not cheese (butter), jam, pears, bananas and tea.
We went to a floating village and began our kayaking tour. We were in an area where there were few boats and junks and it was incredible. The scenery is so beautiful. It was calm and a bit sunny.
We paddle around and under some of the karst hills. My arms and shoulders are screaming, man I am out of shape! I am going to have to focus on working out (and finding a job of course) when we return. We were able to kayak through a cave Jo and Kerry. It was tricky because the tide is low and we had to keep pushing ourselves off rocks. It was even more difficult going back through the cave. The tide was starting to come in, so we had to fight the current and the rocks this time. I had to put my whole body into pushing us off the rocks.
Our kayak tour was an hour and a half. Our hard work was rewarded with lunch as we returned back to the pier. We had passion fruit juice, shrimp soup, tomato and cucumbers, fresh spring rolls with salami, prawns fried with sticky rice and a tomato sauce, calamari, fish with orange sauce, rice, beef and carrots, steamed cabbage, watermelon and oranges. Overall, the food and service on the junk was outstanding. We met some great people and had a wonderful tour.
We got back on the minibus and it was a bit more crowded with the additional 8 people and their luggage Paddling. Bill and I sat in the back with Rhonda and John and stuffed our luggage at our feet.
Lok gave us some more interesting tidbits about Vietnam. He told us that couples are only allowed 2 children. If you have more than 2, there is a 1,000 kg of rice fine (around 400,000 dong). He also said that farmers are given land for 20 years. After 20 years the family has to repurchase the land from the government. I think he also said that if you have more than 2 children, you are not allowed to buy your land back (I may be wrong about that). He said that the government tried to educate rural people about birth control and used a cucumber to illustrate the use of condoms. Since the rural people have their own language and do not speak Vietnamese, the lesson did not hit home. People literally put condoms on cucumbers and continued to get pregnant!
We bit Lok farewell and were dropped off at our hotel Us. We used the internet and I answered some interview questions for Molly's class project (at least one person thinks I have something interesting to say!! Thanks Molly!). Bill found out in an email from his Mom that his Uncle Walt passed away. We are very sorry to hear about that! We have Aunt Isobel and the entire family in our thoughts and prayers. Bill is going to try to call his Dad...
We went to another restaurant that Ling recommended and was on Sandra's Savour Asia website - Quan An Ngon. I ordered Banh Cuon (rolls/pancakes with mushrooms and pork), Muc Mien Nuong (squid skewers) and a sapodilla shake. Bill ordered beef tenderloin soup and clams in lemon grass with Hanoi Beer. The food was very good. Bill's soup did not look like beef tenderloin, it looked more like intestines, so I ate that, it was not bad...
We went back and used the internet at the hotel. When we went up to the room I noticed that my sweatshirt was not with the laundry that Bill had picked up. We went back to the spot and a Vietnamese girl from Toronto helped us to explain to the guy what we were missing. He called his home and it is there. We have to return in the morning to pick it up. UGH! First our all of our clothes smell musty and now we have to make a third trip back for my Roots sweat shirt.
We were not able to watch the last episode of Amazing Race, we do not have the network that was showing it at this hotel. We caught the last 15 minutes of How I Met Your Mother because they do not start programs on the hour or 1/2 hour here! It was a rerun, but we still would have enjoyed watching it.
We used the internet some more and then went to bed late.
