Birthday update

Our day started with sunrise and Tai Chi on the poop deck aboard the Paradise cruise boat (and I use the word boat purposefully because these are not like huge Carnival cruise lines) and ends here in Hoi An near Da Nang in this room and from this bed where we've finished with room service and can now digest and discuss the time in Ha Long Bay.
So the phrase picture-postcard-perfect when used to describe a view or a place brings to mind shiny glossy images of water or mountains. Left out are things like garbage and crowds.  So when you look at google images of Ha Long you see incredible vistas -- dramatic architectural structures rising straight up from teal green waters and looming like prehistoric beasts. These are certainly what we saw during our overnight tour of this World Heritage site. Of course, close up and personal reveals the darker side -- the floating plastic bags, the numerous cruise boats that cluster together -- karaoke music and lights nearly negating the beauty of these limestone peaks at dusk. Then there are the souvenir ladies in their flat-bottom rowboats who swarm about, selling strands of fake pearls and other chotckes, sending them up for your consideration in long handled fishing nets. And beware. If you make contact, they'll dog the boat, anxious for your business. This is totally understandable. But none of these images surface online.  And yet. There's magic in the hills of Ha Long. The mini mountains are remarkable. And rowing under a stalagmited-arch to an emerald lagoon was amazing. Tai chi accompanied by a Ha Long breeze as a way to mark one's 61st birthday…pretty f-ing priceless.
Then there's the carefree way we all meet and interact with other passengers. For instance, meet Katherine and Finley from Scotland. Retired cigarette salespeople who are on a full pension in their mid 50s and spend three plus months a year traveling the world. They've grandchildren. Two grown kids. Maybe because we're only together for a day, we feel at ease. Funny sarcastic jabs before tai chi. A happy birthday hug at breakfast. We dine with new friends from Israel. Two lawyers. Uri and Galia (? spelling). She's very dramatic, almost a diva. He's into photography like Steve. And guess what--they're here at Hoi An.  Probably will run into them on the beach.  And then that will be it. Nothing complicated. Easy peasy vacation breezy.
I woke at 2 a.m. after too much wine. Opened the small door onto our second floor porch and looked out over an ancient scene. The islands looked like they were drawn and furled across endless Chinese scrolls. Any minute a man with a walking stick would cast his shadow over the bay. But nothing. Just an orange moon. The lights of the Paradise boats. The chugging of their engines. I went back to sleep.
Tonight the surf of the South China Sea pounds against the sea wall beyond our room. A good way to end my birthday…and so it goes.