Ahoy Captain

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Getting to Halong Bay from Hoian wasnt the most comfortable as we had to get a sleeper train to Hanoi and then a 3 hour mini bus journey to HaLong Bay. We could only get a 6 cabin and it wasnt as nice as the train to Bangkok! Thank God we didnt have the top bunkers as our noses would have been touching the ceiling. We shared the cabin with various vietnamese people and we managed to sleep well so that was cool.

We actually got to Hanoi at 4.30 am so we ended up waiting outside the tourist board for our pick up for 3 hours! It was fun to watch everyone, young and old exercising around the lake and doing push ups on walls, roundabouts etc - even old men with walking sticks - I'm being serious. Puts us to shame.

In those 3 hours Maz also managed to have an argument with an old lady who sold us 2 lumps of bread and coffee for breakfast (people just walk around with baskets full of goodies all day long). At first she said the cost would be 17 but when we actually purchased the goods she changed it to 70 - anyway, Maz stood his ground as much as he could and a Dutch couple intervened and said they got stung by the same person the same way. (Going forward Maz brings out a notepad and pen and makes EVERYONE write down the cost before we actually purchase it - even bananas)!

Anyways, eventually we got picked up by our minibus and got to HaLong Bay where a speedboat took us and an older couple to our home for the next 2 nights - The Junkship.

The couple - Dawn and Mervyn are an English couple in their 60's and really really nice and funny people. The boat holds more people but we were the only ones for that day and it was such a good day. Our room is a bit small but its got the HOTTEST shower water I have ever experienced. The flip side though was I didnt think about my motion sickness so I began feeling a bit pooey (even though the water is very calm) but the weather got better for us and the sun had his hat on.

Just after we set sail we had one of the best lunches ever with big prawns and crab. Then we went to a HUGE cave called the Surprise cave where we walked in it. It really is impressive. The bay used to be one block of limestone but over millions of years it has eroded into hundreds of small cliffs. Really beautiful and now a world heritage site.

Then we sailed to another bit where we climbed 300+steps to get a great view of the bay before swimming back to where our boat had docked for more great food and a spot of fishing (where Maz got frustrated that there was no bate on the end of the hook and there were 2 big fishes teasing him)!

The next day we said goodbye to Dawn and Mervyn and we boarded a day boat which took us to a fishing village which was pretty amazing to see a school floating on the bay! Then we docked near what looks like a deserted island and swam to the 'beach' bit. The weather wasnt the best though so we got cold and swam back for lunch - which again was sooooooooo nice. However, due to the weather we were getting cold and we couldnt swim again so we were a bit bored and gettign more and more angry with our tour guide who was RUBBISH! Eventually we headed back and our night boat was full of new people who turned out to be REALLY REALLY nice people. Mixture of ages and races which was really cool so we had another good night and we have all swapped emails and hope to meet one couple when we are in Bangkok for the last couple of days. One guy was an American living in Bangkok now and he told us that he used to work in S.Korea and they are really aggressive people - bosses actually hit their subordinates but it is expected and respected. He told us one story that was so harsh but made us laugh so much about one older guy - the boss and his younger worker who were in the pub and the boss was clouting this guy for doing something wrong and then they would go back to normal and then the boss would remember he was angry with the worker and start hitting him again.. Sounds awful but so comical! (along with how he told it of course)!

The last day the weather was cold and windy we had to sit inside the boat. Maz took a Kayak out with one of the crew for a while which he enjoyed. I videoed it and when he saw it back he said ''I knew he werent rowing the son of a bi tch'' hehee - Maz was at the front of the Kayak.

It took us 3 hours to head back to Hanoi and on the way we saw a REALLY bad and disturbing accident with one guy on the floor in a pool of his blood. His head was cracked open in the front and his brain/skull was popped out. I was in shock. Maz luckily didnt see it. I thought I might have imagined it - u know me and my active imagination, but some of the others saw it too and were just as horrified! The drive like crazy over here!!!!! So sad.

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