Hanoi to Halong City+Bay - 10th July 2009

I slept really well the previous night; for the first time in ages, the room was finally cool enough for me to get to sleep quickly, and the bed was comfortable too. I was up by 6am, and had my bag packed in no time, so I went downstairs and blogged for a while. At 7.15 I had breakfast, a tasty buffet with delicious coffee and a refreshing lemon juice.
We were thankful to be able to leave our rucksacks in the hotel during our 3 day trip away, so we were able to be leave with only our smaller bags; me with my new smaller 55 litre bag. We were greated after breakfast by a female tour guide called Mai. It was a relief to finally have a polite, non-arrogant, pleasant, (obviously female) tour guide! All the male tour guides so far have been the complete opposite!
I quickly popped to reception before we left, to collect what I thought would be more things to do in preparation for the Cambodian Visa, but it had been granted, my passport taken to the embassy, and the visa stuck in, in the few hours that it had been in the hotel for!! I was amazing! I was offered a room for myself, with internet and tv, ensuite with a double bed, for $16. I thought it was quite expensive, but I said I'd consider it over the few days I was away.
We got into the mini-bus, which proceeded to pick up a few more tourists on the way, and we were given some information by Mai on the way. She talked about the three huge bridges that were available to be crossed on our way north. The first was built early 1900s and was bombed and repaired almost automatically during the war, as the bridge was so important. There was the bridge we were on currently, and then the final one was in the process of being made, and should open next year sometime. It is the largest bridge in this part of Asia; 14km long I think!!
Hanoi is a hellish city to get around, probably due to the 6 million residents, turning into 9 million people in the city during the day for work from the outskirts! Crazy!!
Mai mentioned that most people are a combination of Buddhists, Taoists and Confusists; they learn Confusism in school, Taoism in temples, and Buddhism in the pagodas.
The journey was to take 3 and a half hours, so we were able to stop at a rather touristy place where there were toilets, and then the usual souveniers, but more expensive, to buy. There were several people doing some line embroidery pictures. I was thankful of the break, as I'd fallen asleep, and when I woke up I'd had a terribly sore neck. it was a rather uncomfortable bus, or maybe I just got too comfortable in the sleeping buses.
Mai was wearing a rather interesting top, which had elongated arms, so she could have her hands covered up from the sun; exactly what I needed for my time on the motorbike!
We arrived at Halong City, and to the harbour. We boarded this small boat, which took us to our larger cruise ship. I was thankful to have survived without feeling very sea-sick. Our room was very pleasing, and we were glad that we were happy with the tour we had been given, and not anything more expensive. The showers even had hot water, and the bathroom was nice. There was a strange group of dutch/vietnamese; it was hard to place how they were related etc, and then an Irish family; wife, husband and son.
We were taken to one of the islands, where we went into the 'Sudden Surprise' Cave. I kept on wanting to take photos of it all; the place was just so beautiful. I had to remind myself every so often, that I'd already taken plenty of photos and that just because the place still looked amazing, the photos I took then, would just look identical to the ones I had taken 5 minutes previously!!
Inside the cave there were stalactites and stalagmites as well as various curious looking shapes. It was all lit up very nicely too, and there was a highlighted rock that had formed to look like a turtle; one of the sacred creatures of Asia, so people were leaving monetary gifts for it as an offering!
There was a lovely view from where the cave finished too; and we could look down on all the boats, all looking identical to our own! There are several smaller boats too; some fishing and some small shops.
We were back on the boat for lunch; lots of sea food, plus chips, some delicious spinach type greenary, which tastes surprisingly amazing! rice, and some pork dish. We sat with the Irish family, who were a bundle of laughs! The wife talks non-stop, but she's really lovely! Their son was a bit fussy, but with a dead fish, eyes intact, still on the table, who can blame him! and he's fairly young too, so maybe he'll grow out of his insecurities.
The drinks on the boat were expensive; it must be how they make their money. It was $1.50 for a can of juice! and if we bought drinks from the little women who row up to us in their boats, then we'd have to pay 10,000 dong for the privalege of not drinking the boats own drinks!
In the afternoon, we were taken on our little boat to a floating house, with attached fish farm, and kayak renting area. They had king fish, star fish, and some weird shrimp-like fish. We got geared up with our lifejackets (!) and then Anja and I got into our kayak! We quite enjoyed just floating around the place, and it allowed us to cool off a bit. I recognised a few of the places where Top Gear presenters may have had to arrive, and kept on thinking that our ship, and all the others, were a bit like Pirates of the Caribbean ships!
Next stop was to a beach where we got to enjoy a nice swim; thankfully there were no jellyfish around. There where quite a lot of tourists around, but not so many screaming kids, so it was still relaxing.
We got back on the big boat, and whilst some of the tourists jumped off the boat to go swimming; I relaxed on the sun beds on the roof reading my book.
Later, we were greated by a couple of women in rowing boats filled with drinks and snacks and a few touristy items such as painted shells. The irish were tempted to buy some beer, but as soon as they tried talking to the young girl, the boatmen seemed to take an interest in the deals, so the Irish had to retreat. We hung out, next to the irish and the girl, until the boatmen lost interest, and finally Anja was able to get a deal of 3 cans of beer for 50,000 dong ($2.50) - which we carefully gave the young girl a plastic bag to put the cans into, so they didn't know how much we'd bought! The Irish followed suit. I managed to ask the girl how old she was (in Vietnamese) and she was only 14!! She had a really cheeky way of selling things, and the competitors for The Apprentice could really learn a thing or two from her! She made me want to buy things I didn't even want, just from the way she was selling them! She was so wonderful! In the end I bought some biscuits from her! She was so adorable! and very persistant, but in a comical way, instead of a harassing way like many others. Her mum was the lady rowing alongside her.
The Irish and Anja hid the beer in their rooms, just cracking open one for the moment, and when I turned up at the door from being in my room, they got a fright, thinking I was the staff! Then the Mai turned up, and Rachel, the Irish mum, misheard her saying 'Dinner's ready' and thought she'd said 10,000 dong please!! (obviously has a guilty conscious for the beer!). Rachel coughed and laughed and looked shocked, all at the same time, and said pardon! And eventually got what Mai was saying, and then burst out laughing! It was really hilarious at the time; especially as whilst the dealings were going on we'd all been whispering, and acting really suspicious!
For dinner, I got some extra noodles as organised by the wonderful Mai, so that I wasn't just eating the green stuff and rice, which was really tasty, there was also deep fried sweetcorn, and for pudding, fresh pineapple.
We were both exhausted, and despite the great company from the Irish family, we headed off to bed by 9.30pm, Anja was asleep shortly after.