Titov Island
The next morning, apart from the sunrise (for which we needed to be up at half five), Bobby had told us that we should try and get up early so that we could eat breakfast early and be ready for the walk to the top of Titop island as soon as it was open. As ever, Bobby knew what he was talking about and we were indeed ready at the gates before they opened and got a few minutes of relative peace at the top until the hordes descended (actually ascended, but that phrase doesn't exist). The views were pretty spectacular which the photos cannot, through their low dynamic range, really do justice to as we were sort of looking into the sun.
Titop (Or Titov) Island is so named as it is the name of a Soviet cosmonaut that the Vietnamese wanted to honour for, I guess, political reasons. As you get onto the island you can see a large statue of the man and a brief explanation of who he is - the second man in space. The island itself is quite a nice bit of tourist fodder with the high-level viewing platform and a well-tended, though small, beach. We were given an hour or so before we had to return to the boat so many took the opportunity to sunbathe a little or even swim. Obviously, I didn't. Upon return to the boat, we all had to get our stuff ready for a transfer to another boat which was smaller and, rather thrillingly, was through a boat to boat transfer. As I mentioned earlier, there is a real industry around the tourism of Halong Bay and the level of efficiency here was a sight to behold. At about 11, another boat came and we docked together. Their passengers then boarded our boat and walked onto our deck and we passed them as we boarded the boat that became ours. I found the speed of it quite brilliant and we were connected for a very short time.
Other than allowing us to witness this wonderful economy of movement, why make this switch? It was a little bit of a hassle to move with our luggage and the new boat didn't have the space of the previous one so we could not leave our bags somewhere else - there were no cabins. Sans cabins, we were not due to stay on the boat but the boat was to take us to Cat Ba Island for some wandering and then also to a hotel for the night. This was the sensible reason but it appeared there was another pertinent reason around governance - we were entering the waters of another jurisdiction. Halong Bay is part of the Quảng Ninh Province but Cat Ba is not, it is part of Haiphong. I think this is a pretty enlightening example of some the odd economics in play here that can occur within countries as well as across borders. The tragedy of the commons is an economic concept that shows the pitfalls of resource sharing and this felt like a slight offshoot of this. Each province is incentivised to get money from their resource and in order to keep its share and so actually try to, in some ways, prevent the other province from making as much as they could treating it as a bit of a zero sum[1] game. Halong Bay is a world-famous tourist hotspot and so there is a lot of industry that is built up around it but Haiphong would not benefit from this as much as it could. Thus, in order to try and generate some income for itself rather than allowing the Halong Bay province to use Cat Ba as another income stream, ie as a common good, Haiphong does not allow boats registered in Halong Bay to cruise the waters. Thus, a boundary has been created whereby those boats registered in Halong Bay cannot ply their trade around Cat Ba and vice versa - you may call this a trade barrier. So Cat Ba, presumably gets 100% of a smaller total which is what it wanted. This doesn't really help the tourists as a whole of course and so makes the visits to Cat Ba a necessarily less convenient stop which is usually less enjoyable - unless you enjoy the boat to boat boarding process. I do enjoy that so thanks be to trade barriers.
There was a fairly short cruise over to the island but as this was more of a day boat, all time was communal time and we enjoyed the views, subtly different as they were, as we sailed the seas. It also felt a little colder and there was a necessity to get coats and jumpers from our bags which I did not expect at all. This may not be completely apparent from photographs as the light[2] was summery even where the temperature was not. It meant that almost everyone left the sun deck and went under cover to escape the cold even before lunch was served.
There was a stop before the town and hotel combination which was for the day's activities - a little exploring of the island using bicycles which allowed us to visit a village and some other bits and bobs. The cycle spot was right near the boats (another efficient bit of tour making) and we all, as a group, made our way towards the goal which was about 5 km away. It was, I think, a "mixed ability" group so there were quite a few trailing behind including an interesting girl[3] from Russia who said that she hadn't ridden a bike for a decade or so (though she looked sufficiently young that this would have been when she was a child…) and so was a little wary of cycling at all. She could do it, but I initially thought that I'd make sure she was OK until Bobby said he would. At that point, however, almost everyone else had gone so I cycled off alone at a slightly faster pace but still a relaxed pace until I caught some other relative stragglers, who were the French girls (henceforth referred to as A&E[4]) that I kept crossing the paths of. Pleasantly, it has to be said. They were very pleasant anyway. We cycled along in a sort of peleton to keep exertion to the minimum. No, obviously we didn't, that would be unlike a holiday, but we did kind of stay close to each other until we got the village spot where the others were along with a handy bike park. From there, we walked as a full group through the woods and up to a small cave for a little climb and explore for about half the group. It didn't feel particularly safe and I didn't have the right footwear but it was still worth the effort to crawl through for a marginally higher viewpoint of the tops of trees. A little more walking and scrambling up some rocks did bring us to a proper viewing area and seemingly most importantly, a group photograph. It was a pretty nicely balanced group at this point which made getting around feel comfortable in a way that I am not necessarily that used to. From there, we returned to the bikes and cycled on a little to find a house in the village.
The village stop wasn't quite what it sounds like as we stopped at a house and were offered snake wine[5] which is sake with a snake in it. There was also a little farm there where we saw some pigs, which were apparently very cute, and some other farmy bits.
Cycling back, there was a little more flexibility in terms of how we did so and so I was fairly relaxed at picking up the rear and making sure stragglers were alright but I would overtake people every so often as others were stopping to take photos (which I was obviously doing too). I especially liked a couple from Colombia asking for photos to be taken of them enjoying the bikes which were staged but also did capture the memories. I enjoyed it because they didn't just do it but did actually redo them a few times in order to get it right. There is something nice about people actually trying to get it right instead of "phoning it in". As mentioned before, most people on the boat had taken sabbaticals of some sort and this couple were on their honeymoon. The honeymoon was not to Vietnam, nor even to Asia but was a year spent travelling around the world, which was mind-blowingly brilliant as an idea[6]. Some of the pictures they wanted were of them cycling away which were staged for the cameras. I've a soft spot for photos of the backs of people as they enjoy themselves in some way - I assume it is from third person videogames[7] aesthetics.
Upon return to the boat, it felt like a full day had passed but it was actually still mid-afternoon and we were told we had opportunity to swim and kayak if we wanted to. Pleasingly, everyone wanted to kayak and a few wanted to swim - the was not really sunbathing weather. One of the differences between the Halong Bay rules and the Lan Ha Bay rules was that you were allowed to jump directly from the boat into the water here and we were told this a few times - hence a few people tried it as the USP of the area. It looked pretty cold in there and sounded even colder when the people did actually jump in. Fair play though, that is what holidays are about.
The kayaking was more interesting as it was a little bit different from the previous day as it was much further away to the lagoon of choice so we had to actually row there rather than starting there. It meant we would pass some little fishing platforms and other people but it also meant we would need to put some effort in. This time, I was paired up with nobody. As the group was an odd number and I was less adept at making friends than other people, I was on my own which made the whole thing a lot harder and also more prevented me from taking photos which was doubly gutting. It was, maybe, 15 mins or so in the open waters and although we tried to keep in a straight line, I was prevented from doing so all the time by the earlier mentioned A&E who playfully forced me off course and made me row more. I didn't mind too much, they were apologetic enough before they started to be deliberate about it, but it did involve a lot more rowing and it was harder to manoeuvre with just the one person of course. Once in the lagoon, it was very peaceful in contrast to the day before as it was large and sparse enough to avoid others so I could float and take pictures. I was even asked to take pictures for the aforementioned Colombian couple which I was very pleased to do. On the way back, as for the cycling, everyone was spread out and I ended up as a straggler. Unlike for the cycling where this was not really a problem, in this situation, I was slower than most people and also not entirely sure of the way back so when I got cramp and everyone disappeared off into the horizon - as the sun was also about to do - I was actually a bit worried. Every so often, I had to stop because of the cramp but I just could not see anyone so I continued along on what I thought was the right path but every time I had to stop for the cramp, the boat would rotate slightly. It was not ideal and I was pretty close to panic but I did eventually find the right spot and waited for my leg to recover a bit before powering back. As it happened, I did not return much later than the others but it was a bit scary when I was doubled over with cramp. It is one of the more obvious pitfalls of going to places where I need to be aware of risks and not push on all the time. More annoyingly, with the light as it was, I could not take many photos!
The town of Cat Ba was not far from the port which we reached after sailing through a nice little floating market (and the docking was done with incredibly low margin for error, I have to say). We then boarded a coach for a few minutes to be taken to the biggest hotel on the island (apparently) and given the evening to do what we wanted amongst the bright lights of Cat Ba Town (population: approx 13,000). The town has developed into bit of a tourist enclave which is pretty handy at this moment in time as it meant it was fairly live with restaurants and bars.
I ended up with A&E as a couple of dining companions[8] which made it that little bit less flexible but a fair bit more enjoyable. I am pretty unfussy when it comes to eating, it wasn't a problem at all to find something that would suit. They were concerned about the quality of food and so consulted their French travel guide (Routard), although they did also have a copy of the Rough Guide, in order to be comfortable with dining. We found a basic looking place which was less empty than neighbouring restaurants after a little discussion. As it was a smaller group, conversation was different and maybe a little more personal. Clearly, this meant that the question was coming. The question I now always get asked in foreign countries by foreign people. The question being, of course, "What do you think of Brexit?"...
This is a dangerous question for me, especially in social situations as I am wont to add entirely unnecessary intensity as the whole thing sits so uncomfortably with me. So uncomfortably. And it seems entirely at odds with what most travellers know of the UK as a welcoming place that allows people to be what they want to be. They seemed genuinely confused as to why on earth anyone would do this and also how incongruous it was with their experiences. I explained, as I have done with British people too, that the statistics on the voting patterns were fairly clear - as you moved from one end of the spectrum to the other on lots of variables, it was going from remain to leave in fairly clear ways. With level of education being one of the very clearest of the lines, I explained that the types of Britons they had met would, almost implicitly, be of the more cosmopolitan, urban and educated subset. It was at turns cathartic and infuriating for me to explain my view, having to reaffirm those things that people used to take for granted about British people. It is a question you only get asked when people feel comfortable to ask, so I could at least see it almost as a stamp of acceptability. We spoke a bit about French politics and they mentioned how Macron was popular amongst people like themselves and they hoped he was well received around Europe.
It was nice to spend time with what felt like a more honest conversation where I could say what I felt - it isn't always possible in the UK with all the built up experiences and politeness we all have. It was a nice dinner although, actually, the food was nothing special but then, as was said which I assume is a translation from French, dinner is not just about eating but it is mainly about "sharing a moment", which really is a wonderful sentiment.
The Return
The next morning, the plan was to leave fairly early after a quick breakfast and that we did. Sailing through the floating market in the morning felt different and lively with a little more action. There were not really any activities on this day as we aimed to get back to Halong Bay for about noon which was about the time we started a few days earlier. The efficiency of the whole process meant there were basically switchovers with as little waiting time. As we had when we transferred to this particular boat, we did another boat to boat transfer and then had an early lunch on the vega boat. The cabins were available but there was no point in using them as we were not there for long as we just had lunch before disembarking. What was striking after the bitter cold of the previous day on the sundeck, was how much warmer Halong Bay was and also how much busier. I was really pleased to have that extra day as it worked really well to have that different feel and it was great to see a bit more. The scenery in the area is truly awesome and the trip as a whole is wholly recommendable as it includes a decent amount for three days. Vega Travel were really excellent.
When we got to dry land, the efficiency of the whole process was breathtaking, we waited for, maximum, ten minutes for our bus which arrived with new tourists. Those tourists boarded the boat and we boarded the bus so each transport was empty for a very short time - it really was an astonishingly low amount of downtime. The bus return back was ostensibly similar to the journey there but although it was bleary-eyed and only a little talkative, the journey was with non-strangers and so took on a different air. It also helped that we were bathed in sunlight so I could enjoy listening to music and looking wistfully into the middle distance out of the window. Living vicariously through others on the bus, it was pretty nice and heartwarming to see people other than myself having fun - and with a musical backing that meant I could not hear the words but just see the animated conversations. It made it feel a little like an art installation. During the trip back, Bobby (who continued to be excellent fun) asked us to add our names to his Facebook list to become friends. I didn't have a problem with this, as such but I did ask as I was handed the phone by somebody else, why we were doing this. Doing what? Why are we all adding to a friends list on Facebook? The gist being that it is nice to do so, that it would be nice if our paths were close to crossing, we could make them cross. A visit to London could be enlivened by meeting up, she said. This is true, of course, maybe it is all about adding optionality to travel and I felt much better about it. I'm not particularly precious about my Facebook profile (available here) so I didn't really mind about adding myself and maybe the way we can judge the quality of a holiday in hindsight is the number of Facebook friends added. Pretty modern, right? That's how you define modern success[9] It was still light upon the return to Hanoi and I had a few hours to kill before my plans to move on, as did a few others. I was taking a train to Hue but others were taking flights or other trains out of Hanoi so we decided to kill some time together as a group of about 6. Again, this is not what I am used to and not particularly in character but what are holidays for if they are not for doing things you would not do habitually? For those that had to do something else, plans were made to meet at a coffee place that had a roof terrace in the Old Quarter overlooking the lake.
We chatted for a while as I simultaneously enjoyed the company and felt it was a bit of a waste when I could be walking around and absorbing a bit more of Hanoi (although this was clearly a bit of Hanoi). I feel like a lot of my thoughts are bracketed in these situations. It was a nice cafe and I enjoyed an egg coffee while I could and then left in order to get some dinner before my journey - I had a bit of a Pho craving. On my way to the specific Pho restaurant I was after (location), I bumped into A&E on the streets. This was a happy coincidence although not quite a pure one as they were looking for[10], and failing to find, the coffee terrace as it was a bit hidden away behind a silk store. They joined me for a quick Pho (which I believe was their first in Vietnam) but I did have to rush off fairly rapidly in order to get back to Vega Travel to catch my moped to the station.
Train to Hue
CLICK FOR HALONG BAY PHOTO ALBUM
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1. Simplistically, you could see it as a zero-sum as each VND spent in province A is not available to spend in province B but this simplistic approach, which has the implicit assumption that there is a finite amount of VND, does not take into account the fact you can "grow the pie" - if the combined offering of province A and B was better, then more people would spend more VND. Personally, I think that it is this fundamental misunderstanding of zero-sum economics that has poisoned debate in the UK and leads people to believe, somehow, that trade must have a winner and a loser rather than potentially two winners. That is what has led to Brexit, to anti-immigration via the lump of labour fallacy. Maybe this is worth more than a footnote, or maybe the fact that this misunderstanding seems irrelevant for democracy at the moment when louder people are the ignorant, means a footnote is all it will ever be.↩
2. One couple, from the UK, were making their way to Australia via a slow and enjoyable jaunt through Asia which is why they were in Vietnam. They were sending photos back to family and friends to show what a great time they were having and it sounded like it really was a fantastic adventure for them. The intriguing thing about them is that they always took photos together after taking their jackets and jumpers off. The reason, we later found out, was that they wanted everyone back home to see how brilliant and hot it was - even when it wasn't actually hot. The temperature at this point was such that I got my coat from my bag which I had only brought because it has been snowing when I left London because it was so cold. I found this presentation of their holiday fascinating and it was a real view behind the curtains of Facebook that more people need to see. I'm sure the pictures were lovely and the relevant people were made to feel envy but it doesn't feel like the best aim for a holiday.↩
3. She was travelling alone, which is interesting enough. I found her to be quite outgoing which may have come from the travelling alone but the thing that I remember about her was that she was travelling really light with just a bag for a few months - it was very impressive.↩
4. This is like Accident and Emergency, in order to retain an element of anonymity. Yes, that is an a and an e too.↩
5. Interestingly, second languages and all that, I was asked about this by someone translating to French in their heads. They couldn't get their head around it being called wine rather than alcohol, which is an entirely sensible position to take. Sake, which this was, is often translated as rice wine in English but rice alcohol in French. Hence the confusion.↩
6. Again, a rather lovely thing about travelling away from Britain, and away from Britons, is that you often hear people being overwhelmingly positive about the UK and London. I am sure that this is partially politeness, but even so, it makes a nice change from being in the UK. This couple told me that they loved the university towns they visited and how wonderfully academic they felt. More surprisingly, they said that the best food that they had eaten so far on the trip, 6 months in, was in London at Burger and Lobster. This was a surprising turn of events… I have not eaten at Burger and Lobster but that is an incredible statement.↩
7. I very recently read an article about a painting that was said to be very influential for videogame art. Link here and the painting itself, Wanderer above the sea of fog by Caspar David Friedrich is here.↩
8. This ended up happening in quite an odd way. A&E already had a footnote dedicated to the problem with their cabin the day before and this time, they didn't have any hot water which I found out when I went to check if they wanted to head out as discussed but not planned. As a result of no hot water, we went downstairs to request help on the way out and I said that if it had not been sorted, they were obviously welcome to use my room. Pretty unfortunate to have it happen twice in two nights right?↩
9. For completeness, I think I added 4 from people I met in Vietnam, 3 from this interaction and that is quite a decent number I reckon. Oh, sorry, I think I was meant to say "spoiler alert" as that is about the future…↩
10. They were looking after we had sort of organised to meet after sorting their hotel out. I was told that they would find the coffee shop with the details and that I should not worry and that I should "do my life" while they checked in. Again, I really love these little phrases. Rather annoyingly, the hotel they were staying at which they had picked for the location was either full or there was a problem with the room. As a result, they were offered an upgrade to a different hotel. Sounds familiar, non? I asked if it was Kingly. I was right, what an incredible coincidence…Pretty unfortunate to have it happen thrice in three nights right?↩
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