Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

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Halong bay was like a flooded version of the karst mountain scenery around Guilin, China. We spent one night here on a boat, watching the sun set and then watching a few shooting stars. Our second day involved some kayaking through some limestone caves that were full of bats. At lunchtime, we found a tiny little beach and the crew of the boat set up a table and chairs on the sand - complete with tablecloth, napkins, etc. We had a 10 course lunch and then went for a bit of a swim.

The second night was spent in a hotel on Cat Ba Island which is the largest of the islands in Halong Bay. We had met a Dutch couple on our trip. Their respective parents had all fled to the Netherlands on a tiny boat from Vietnam many years ago - not exactly sure why, but most of the people on the boat died in the voyage. The outcome of all this, though, was that we were with two people who spoke fluent English, fluent Vietnamese and, most importantly, wanted to ask a million questions about Vietnam. On Cat Ba Island they took us to places where we could try some of the traditional food that we would never have otherwise known about. We tried dried squid (tasted like leather, but was an experience!) and Che (pronounced "chair") which was kind of like a fruit cocktail with ice cream.

The Dutch couple also asked the crew of our boat about their daily lives. They told us that they get 3 days off a month, they get fined if they do anything wrong and they have to sleep on the chairs of the boat - even if there are free guest bedrooms. They were all still fairly happy, though. I suppose they have a nicer office than most people!

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