Since I could remember, I always dreamt of visiting Vietnam, especially Ha Long Bay. When we had our pre port about Vietnam, I learned that Ha Long Bay is one of the natural wonders of the world. Additionally, hearing that I was even more excited to visit the beautiful bay that I had been seeing in pictures.
Day 2 ( in Vietnam)
As I went to Kaisersaal to meet my field program in the morning, I was extremely excited. We were about to leave the ship for two days, and visit Hanoi and Ha Long Bay. We went to the airport to fly to Hanoi. There we then toured around, seeing buildings, chickens in cages, and lots and I mean lots of motorcycles. It seemed as if the motorcycles were the main form of transportation. We had lunch at Seasons of Hanoi, where I sat at a table with girls who seemed to all know each other. One of the girls though, I met on my second plane ride to San Diego. Her name is Lauren. She was on Semester at Sea with her "big" Elise. Also at the table was a girl named Elle, and her friend Alli. I had fun sitting at that table. They all dared me to try some of the food that we were not quite sure what it was, and it was a nice time meeting new people.
After lunch, our field program did some wandering. We explored some parts of Hanoi, such as the One Pillar Pagoda, and the Temple of Literature. I was able to see incents, chickens in cages, beautiful colored buildings, and yet through it all there was a lot of hecticness. Later, after all our time exploring, we wandered over to a water puppet show. I had never seen a puppet show before, nether the less a water puppet show, so I was very excited. The show took place at NHA HAT MUA ROI THANG LONG THANG LONG WATER PUPPET THEATRE. It was a beautiful theatre, where we were seated a wee bit in the back.
Later, we soon went back to the hotel where I was assigned a roommate named Jamie who was in my Culinary Tourism class. To be honest, the first time I was talking to Jamie in the room I called her Jenny, because that is her best friend and roommate on the ships name, and they are always together. After we got settled in our hotel room, I met up with my friend Ashley. We went to get some snacks at a local 7/11. Walking to the 7/11 we got some snacks, and there we ran into other SASers on our field program who also had the same idea, getting snacks. Ashley and I, walked back to the hotel. There we met up with some of the other girls in the field program in the restaurant area in the hotel, which was on the top level. We took the elevator up where we met them. They were all drinking and eating. I sat with them, including my friend Sophia ( shown below) and enjoyed their company and enjoyed getting to know them all more. After the night was over, I headed back to my hotel room. Jamie was not yet back, so I went to bed.
Day 3 (in Vietnam)
I woke up and went to get breakfast in the top of hotel. Everyone was rushing up the stairs and elevator. I could tell they overslept, and were rushing to get breakfast before our next day of adventures. Today we were going to go to Ha Long Bay! To be honest, I had no clue what was in store for today's adventures, all I knew was that we were going to get on a boat and see the beautiful bay. I finished my breakfast of carbs and more carbs, went back to my room to make sure I had everything and grabbed my bag. Today we were going to head to a museum. This museum was of statues, wax replicas showing what it looked like. However, before the museum we stopped by to see pearls and a oyster farm. Yes I know right, PEARLS! We learned about how cultured pearls are made. A very long, tedious, and bit confusing process, but amazing. We then had the chance to buy pearls, and see the pearls that they were selling in their little store. They were even selling some black pearls. Back on track, we went to the museum afterwards, and saw the wax people and statues. It was kind of creepy seeing the wax people, for at times I wanted to talk to them thinking they were real people. After the museum we then hopped on the bus. We drove and right before we got on the boat for the night, we stopped at a little store. We had the opportunity to get rice patty hats, and I bought one that had sewn in Ha Long Bay and some ladies. It was multi colored and very beautiful. We then drove about five minutes, and we were at the boat. We hopped off, carrying our backpack and our rice patty hats, (at least those who purchased them.)
Hopping on the boat for the night, we were given our keys. I was rooming again with Jamie. Jamie and I brought our bags to our new room, and then we wandered around the boat. Soon it was lunch, and we were given food. We wandered to the area where the food was being served. Eating real quickly, we then wandered back out. Everyone who had rice patty hats wanted to take pictures with them in their hats, and people wanted to borrow other peoples rice patty hats. I soon got out my Go Pro to record as we started to move faster. It was amazing seeing how the boats engine started to move faster, and the waves picked up. How it became cooler, and I wished I brought a sweatshirt. Soon we were in the bay. I put on my bathing suit and some water shoes, then we got in line to start taking the little boat over to the island near by. I brought my Go Pro with me, sticking it in my shorts. We were advised not to bring anything that cannot get wet; thus, like do not bring phones or cameras. I trusted my Go Pro, I just had to wash it off when I got back to the boat. While on the island, we started looking for trash and plastic to collect. Some people found rope, and we tugged on it, trying to get it out of the sand. We found at least three big bags of trash. Then I got my Go Pro out and took some pictures on my Go Pro with my friends Josephine and Jesenia Then everyone hopped in kayaks, two people per kayak. My kayak buddy was my friend Ashley.
Ashley and I started to kayak around the bay, collecting trash as we saw it float in the water. It was extremely sad seeing the amount of trash that we saw floating in the water. I never thought that such a beautiful place would have a large amount of trash problem. As I used my paddle to push the trash towards me, I reached it get it with my hand. Yes I felt a bit of disgust as I grabbed shoes and water bottles, emptying out the water in the water, and then putting the trash into the boat. I grabbed food wrappers and plastic bags. It was amazing the things and items that I ended up collecting as we explored around the bay. Ashley soon started collecting trash and items as well. Soon we were told it was time to head back to the little island beach, were Ashley and I tried to compare to see who collected the most trash. We added the trash that we collected in the waters to the many bags of trash that we collected on the island.
Soon we took the little boat back to the bigger boat, where we all showered because of all the trash that we had touched. After meeting back up, it was dinner time. We ate dinner, celebrating and having a little feast. Soon Ashley and I played mini UNO, a game she had brought with her. After a while we then looked at the people who were squid fishing down below. One of the workers was teaching us how to fish, and my friend Callie was really invested in catching one. She even came up with a song to sing to the squid, that she and the worker sang together. After awhile the workers packed up, for the boat was moving again. It had stopped when we all visited the little island, but was moving again as the night went on. I wandered back to my room on the boat for the night, and went to sleep. Setting my alarm for Tai Chi in the morning on the top deck.
Day 4 (in Vietnam)
Waking up in the morning, I hit snooze on my alarm. I then rushed getting ready for Tai Chi. Throwing on loose clothes, and then rushing up to the top deck. I tried not to distract the Tai Chi instructor and the class that was going on. I was near the back, so I did not disturb anyone, but I felt as if I did not understand exactly what I should be doing. I felt my bones move slowly, and start to crack. Then, I felt that the Tai Chi was working. Luckily I was not the last one to come up to the top deck. Others started coming up with only a few minutes to spare. Yet, I was happy to be up on the top deck, because of the beautiful scenery.
After Tai Chi we then headed downstairs for breakfast. I ate a bit inside, then grabbed a cup of coffee and enjoyed the scenery. Then after breakfast we went on a boat ride, taking a small boat to a small floating community nearby. We hopped off on the floating community, seeing dogs and children run around. I wondered how the dogs have not fallen in the water, and even the children, because they are very close the the water with no bonders keeping them in. We then all got on these smaller boats, and had a little tour of their community. We watched as there was a community member who was in a small boat as well, sitting on a chair in the boat and had this big net picking up trash in the water as they rowed by. After exploring the little village, we then headed back to the boat. We started getting our things together, as the boat started pulling in. We had to hop of the boat immediately, for the crew had to clean the boat and get it ready for its next execution.
Hopping back on the bus, we drove to the airport. Driving to the airport we passed people in the distance who looked as if they were farming. Nevertheless, I got out my camera and took a picture. Soon we got to the airport, where we went through security, arrived at our gate, and took off from Hanoi. It was terrible though, as we were taking off, one of the passengers in front of where I was sitting on the plane, next to some SASers threw up. The whole plane started to smell, and people started to stuff their noses with tissue or their shirts or sweatshirts to try and block to the smell. Luckily, I was two to three rows away from the person who threw up, so I did not really smell it. Soon we touched down, and everyone rushed off the plane, trying to get away from the terrible smell of throw up. It was amazing that none of the plane crew did anything to help the person who threw up.
We met up with a Semester at Sea provided bus in Hồ Chí Minh City, and we were driven back to the ship. It was an amazing 2 days, yet I wish I had more time to explore the wonderful natural wonder of the world!
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