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Published: June 12th 2007
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Wanging in Hanoi Firstly, we would like to say a huuuuge thank you to Mum and Dad Smith who gave us our trip to Halong Bay as a wedding present.
Day 79
We were picked up at around 9am and set off on the journey towards Halong City where we would pick up our boat. We were most dismayed to find that it was tipping it down when we woke and the rain was still falling as we arrived at the dock. Thankfully it was not hazy so we knew we would still be able to see the stunning scenery that has made this place into a World heritage site.
We got onto the boat which was to become our home for the next 24 hours or so and were pleased to see that it was lovely. We sat down to an excellent lunch including local seafood as we made our way out into the bay.
We put our stuff into our cabin and, the rain having mercifully stopped, we went out onto deck to enjoy our first real sight of Halong Bay. This area is famous for the limestone karst stacks that rise almost vertically from the deep
green waters surrounduing them. There are apparently 1969 islands in total. Think James Bond in the Man With the Golden Gun to imagine the scenery (or look at some of our pics!!!)
We sailed on, mesmerised by our surroundings which seemed to get even more impressive as we sailed out further, and some time later arrived at our first stop, The Surprising Cave. We never could quite understand what was surprising about it but it was a cool cave none-the-less!
After this the group was able to explore the area a little more closely by getting into kayaks and paddling around the nearby stacks. A leisurely paddle admiring the scenery soon turned into a large scale water fight and we were drenched from head to foot.
Heading through a tunnel in one of the stacks we arrived into a small lagoon surrounded by limestone cliffs. Two of the French guys from our group dedided to get out of their canoe for a swim ... this was where their trouble began. Trying to climb back into their kayak they caused it to capsize and it began to fill with water. They managed to turn it over but it
capsized again when they made another attempt to get in. The rest of the group looked on in absolute hysterics as their boat slowly disappeared from view and sank to the bottom of the lagoon, all that was left in their hand was the piece of rope tied to the front.
The next 20 minutes or so involved them finding a motor boat to tow the canoe to the side where they could stand and then turn the boat over and bail out as much of the water as they could. Our tour guide took it all in very good humour and as the rest of us dried our tears of laughter they got safely back aboard the kayak, albeit still sitting a little lower in the water!
Back on to our larger boat we had a cold beer and sailed off towards our mooring spot for the night where we were able to jump from the roof of the boat into the emerald waters beneath and swim to our heart's content. It really felt like paradise as we swam surrounded by the spectacular view of the sun slowly going down behind the karsts.
The boats on
tours are visited regularly by ladies in small sampans, flat bottomed boats, filled with various drinks and snacks to sell to the tourists aboard. We bartered from the top of the boat for some beers so that we didn't have to pay the higher prices on the boat only to find that when we got them aboard the crew of the boat wanted to charge us an extra 5000vnd per bottle as we had not bought them on the boat. We refused as we had not been told about it and thankfully the fuss seemed to die down quite quickly.
A quick shower and another lovely meal later Chrissie and Anja chilled in the lounge area, Anja doing a little painting, and Mark went to join the French guys on the roof for a couple of drinks. Chatting and a couple of drinks later and the Anglo, French, Vietnamese drinking games began, and carried on, and on ending with a delightful bottle of snake wine (vodka with a dead snake fermenting in it to add flavour). We had a great night with the evening ending with a drunk Irishman deciding to swim over to our boat to join in
the party only to find that he had forgotton which was his boat in the dark having to kip on our deck until morning - A great night had by all!
Day 80
We rose early for breakfast, well Chrissie did anyway. Mark got up, decided he wasn't really feeling up to breakfast following the previous night's frivolities and went back to bed! Friends and family reading this will know Mark's legendary hangovers well and will be pleased to know that this one was a corker.
We sailed away from our night mooring, changed to a smaller boat, and headed for Cat Ba Island where we spent the morining trekking through the forest of the Cat Ba National Park. Very humid but a fab place to walk with Mark nursing a bottle of water and Chrissie being VERY brave about the huge spiders!
Returning to the boat, we went out to a spot nearby for another swim and then enjoyed lunch on the roof of the boat after which Mark had another hangover induced snooze. We relaxed on the roof of the boat as we sailed on towards our next destination, a secluded beach on one
of the islands. Mark continued to sleep as we all swam from the boat to the beach when he woke and joined the group for a spot of underwater frisbie - it was beautiful!
We were sad to leave the warm waters as we reboarded the boat to head toward another point on Cat Ba island where we were to check into a hotel for the night. Leaving Mark for yet another snooze, Chrissie and Anja popped into town for a quick wander and then went back to the hotel for dinner and bed.
Day 81
We got back on to our boat once more for the journey back towards Halong City, crossing the bay in some pretty rough waters. We transferred back to the larger boat and the seas calmed down as we neared the port again. Lunch and a bus ride playing cards later and we were back in Hanoi.
Our tour agency (Vega travel) have been fantastic and were great about letting us shower and change at the shop. We ended our time in Hanoi with a bite to eat including a seasonal downpour.
We also finally managed to achieve a challenge
set us by Laura from Kellogg House. When performing last year in the Hot Mikado, Laura and Chrissie developed their own special dance move. Laura challenged us to perform this move in the middle of a crowded street in Hong Kong, however we didn't receive the challenge in time to do it there and have been waiting for a sutiably busy city to take it's place. We felt that Hanoi was the city and have attached a short video clip to prove that we met our task fully! Laura, thanks for the challenge babs - keep em coming - sorry for the wait but hope this is worth it!
Feeling that we'd entertained the folk of Hanoi enough for one day we took our first open bus towards Hue which was to take us around 14 hours. Although the coach was ok it was a very uncomfortable night and the only stops given were for verge weeing opportunites - nice!
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Willy Wanging!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ha ha!! Excellent!!! Well done fitties!!! totally been laughing out lould at that... Yeah!!!! Missing willy wanging with chu Chrissie! Love the new drinking game - vodka with snake- yeah maybe not! So all is well in rainy manchester... I have just auditioned and got the part of Eliza in My Fair Lady in Oct with SAMT.. Yeah, gota get me cock-ney out!! Showcase is on Sunday this week.. looking forward to getting pissed in the dressing room yarhoo! Well once again thanks for treating me to a wonderful wang.. it was certainly not 'rubbish'!! Love you LONG time xx