Sailing on a Junk

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Halong Bay was really beautiful but unfortunately for the first time on the trip so far I had some bad weather.  Just rainy and misty (probably trying to get me used to it for England).  Anyway the first day on the boat was overcast but we could still see quite a way.  Huge limestone karsts rise up out of the water in all differnent shapes and in the gloomy weather it was a little eerie.

I must say the organisation skills in Vietnam are absolutely hopeless.  After being picked  up an hour late we were finally on our way and the tour guide in broken English was trying to explain the itinerary.  She reached the end of the first day and said and we return to Hanoi at 7pm.  Hmm that doesn't seem right for a two day trip so I dared to say ummm isn't this meant to be a two day trip.  Oh ys some of you will be going with different guide not me different.  Well that cleared that up didn't it.

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Eventually I got herded onto a boat with a bunch of other people, not the ones I came with.  By this time I'd been asked for my ticket about thrree times, since I was never given a ticket they just said yes ok.  Tickets can be rare in Vietnam and my name was on some mysterious list so I was fine.

The boat was really nice though clean and well laid out and even had tableclothes and knives and forks.  The first time I've seen these implements since I left home.

I shared a room with Ensuite with a Singapore girl named Juls (hi juls hope you're having fun back at work) who was travelling with her parents.  Juls had a really good sense of humour so somehow we managed to survive the couple of days together without killing ourselves laughing.

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On the first day after lunch (good food) we went to the Amazing Cave which was all lit up.  Very touristy and well trodden but still impressive none the less.  All of the boats come into dock at the same time jostling and hitting each other to get room.  With basically no regard for each other or their boats.

After the cave we cruised to a more deserted area and had the option of kyaking but it was cold and wet so most of us opted out.  Then off to another spot to drop anchor for the night.

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The next day was a slow cruise back to the Harbour.  Then a two hour wait (I won the bet on the waiting time which ranged from an hour to three and a half - got a bottle of water for it yay).  Back to Hanoi to do some quick shopping and then off to the airport.  A long day all in all.