I left the office around 2:30 when Mr. Tuan Anh and Trang scooted out of my office knowing I was hoping to get away on time. I met my Sweet Thing back in 1127, we finished packing and headed downstairs to meet the driver for the 3.5 hour drive to Halong Bay. Junie Vu (actually since the adoption it's now Junie Hochstadt) met us in the lobby with our chauffeur and off we went. The car was nice and the driver spoke three words less of English than I did Vietnamese. We were immediately worried how we were going to ask for the pit-stop for you know who. The drive was engaging, especially the plethora of roadside stores littering the landscape.
About an hour or so in, the moment arrived. We negotiated a stop at the WC, foolishly thinking the driver actually understood us. About 30 minutes later we figured out he did not. We contemplated calling Junie for the translation but ST, the seasoned tinkler that she is, decided to motion somehow (details not provided in case any minors reading) and within 10 minutes we pulled into a place that had chachkas galore. I ran into something in the men's washroom there I'd never seen before ... my Sweet Thing. Fancy that!!! We chowed down on cookies and cashews for a bit then boarded the chariot for the balance of the 3.5 (I mean 4.5) hour trip.
The towns we traversed did not cease to amaze. The bergs kept amazing Mr. and Mrs. Abbey, especially moi, and we eventually started to see a few signs that had Halong Bay on them. We made a left on what appeared to be a causeway andbthen the driver pulled over and asked for directions. That is always soothing. One word to describe the hotel ... tired. We are at the restaurant with the other 0 guests. My ST sent back ...
A) the bloody Mary
B) the martini
C) the leather sole of a Converse, aka sirloin steak
All is well and we will be picked up in the AM for the bateau at 11AM.
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