It was a debacle. I figured – I made it through Myanmar, I’ve gone through Europe, I survived Turkey, I conquered Morocco. How hard could the infamous uber-touristy Halong Bay be? There was no way I would need to pay 50 dollars or more on a stupid tour. As a self-proclaimed “seasoned traveler,” I thought I could skip the trap and the tour groups and see more while paying less. A day and a half later, I saw less than most, spent more than I hoped, and found myself smack-dab in the middle of the most touristy of touristy bay cruises.
One might wonder how a seasoned traveler managed to do so poorly. To be honest, I just wasn’t prepared very well. I didn’t know the names of bus stops and ferry ports, I didn’t study any Vietnamese before heading out, and I was a bit ambitious with what I wanted to do. At the same time, there was a plethora of conflicting information, from tour operators, expats, and locals – the most damaging of which was misinformation regarding departure times. I actually made it to all the right places, but ended up just missing the next leg of my journey in each of those places by a mere couple of hours or so.
It was humbling; the gestures that I felt I had perfected via field testing throughout my travels may not actually be as effective as I imagined. Instead, I once again felt the stinging frustration of not being able to communicate with anyone while stuck on the side of the road with no inkling of directions. Yet perhaps this comes at a good moment, at the beginning of my journey, at a place where death by beating or eating isn’t really a threat. After all, all I lost was a little time, money, and pride, right?
2 comments:
Say it ain't so! I feel your pain, dude, but it happens. Because I didn't research how long it would take to get back to the airport by boat from Venice (much longer than getting to Venice from the airport), and how a slow barge blocking our way might double the time for that trip, we missed our flight home! Our choices were to spend the night at the airport or spring for one more night at the hotel. We decided to spring for one more night, and found there were no rooms left at the Hotel Monaco and Grand Canal, only a suite left at Palazzo Selvadego, it's sister hotel (and a bad experience at the even-more-expensive Hotel Danieli made us not want to venture elsewhere), so we took the suite. Ouch!
But you're right! Just time and money! You'll get the pride back. ;)
Hope you have better info for the rest of your trip!
Hehe, you're right Alice! The pride comes back quite quickly. =P
Plus, don't front. Suite + wallet = ouch, but I'm sure you loved it!!! Hehe.
Post a Comment