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Published: August 9th 2011
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Diumenge, 7 d’agost – Halong Bay, un dels llocs mes increibles del mon
De bon mati ens hem llevat I a les 7 ja erem esmorzant al restaurant de l’hotel. A l’arribar a l’Asia ja ens podem permetre certs luxes com per exemple hotels I fins I tot amb esmorzar. Ens allotjem al Hanoi Moment Hotel, al mig del barri antic I la veritat es que va ser una gran trovalla! Gracies al tripadvisor! L’hotel es petit, I tambe ho es el restaurant, aixi que hem compartit taula amb una parella d’anglesos, mes grans I que havien arribat feia 2 dies a Vietnam. El seu plan era anar fins a Ho Chi Minh city amb tren I creuar amb bus a Phnom Penh, la capital de Cambodja I fins a Siem Reap on hi ha els increibles temples d’Angkor on vam anar amb els pares l’any passat.
Tot seguit hem pujat a l’habitacio a recollir-ho tot I ens han trucat dient-nos que el nostre minibus havia arribat. I aixi hem comensat el viatje de 4 hores fins a Halong Bay. Aquest fenomen natural patrimoni de la humanitat es tracta de 2000 illetes en una bahia que surten de l’aigua
I s’enfilen ben amunt, creant una impresionant atmosfera. La llegenda vietnamita diu que aixo ho va crear un drac que perseguia a una persona I estava tant decidit a agafar-la que no es va adonar que mentre seguia a la persona, la seva cua estava trencant la terra al seu pas, aixi, va entrar aigua a aquests ‘canals’ I Halong Bay va esdevenir!
A l’arribar al port m’he recordat de quan vam venir amb la Judit aqui fara 4 anys per aquestes dates. T’he de dir Judit que aquesta vegada hem anat de luxe I hem agafat un vaixell molt guapo, tambe hi fem nit I la veritat es que el camarot es com un hotel de luxe, molt molt bonic!
Despres d’un bon dinar, hem pujat a una illa on hi havia una platja pero principalemnt hi ha un repetidor de telefon I per tant hi ha escales per pujar a dalt de l’illa, moltes I empinades pero hi hem pujat I hem vist la vista molt bonica de una petita part de la bahia, I amb molt bona llum tambe (hi he posat una foto al blog) despres hem baixat, hem viatjat un pel mes, fet
kayak I mes tard a sopar al buffet, a intentar pescar sipies (sense exit) happy hour I a veure un video, Top Gear Vietnam, un programa de cotxes angles molt divertit que van fer un especial a Vietnam, l’hem vist 20 vegades pero hem rigut com a criatures, sera el happy hour…
Sunday, 7th August - Halong Heaven
After a long drive and lots of rental property things to think about, we arrived in Halong city to catch our boat. On the way, we had to stop for 20 minutes at an ‘artisan’ shop, where Alex found a merlion statue that he fell in love with. Fortunately I had the good sense to steer him away before he could buy it and get it shipped to Singapore, even though he was adamant it would look great in the living room.
At the pier in Halong city, we could see all the junks out in the bay. Ours turned out to be one of the lovely ones and when we boarded, we were so impressed with the standards of the cabins, rooms etc. It was like small-scale five star luxury, so while we watched the karsts getting closer
from the picture windows in our cabin, we were very excited about the next couple of days.
Our first stop was at Ti Top island for the hike up to the viewing point. After only a few steps, we were sweating buckets. The humidity was ridiculous and it took a long time to stop dripping. Thankfully the view was spectacular and well worth the short climb. The karsts created the most beautiful panorama.
The second stop of the day was kayaking through caves. Alex couldn’t come with me because the closed kayak would be really uncomfortable, so instead I had to share a kayak with a German man with no sense of direction. Thankfully the scenery made up for having to kayak in a zig-zag pattern!
Dinner was beautiful, as was the sunset on deck before hand, especially as we could see brilliant lightning in the distance. After dinner we tried (but failed) to fish for squid. We saw some, but none were bitting, and then we went to the dining room for the evening entertainment – Topgear Vietnam special. Alex and I were the only ones watching, but the laughter intensified as the amarettos and caipirinhas kept coming and
it was a very fitting end to a great day.
Dilluns, 8 d’agost – la tornada a Hanoi
De bon mati ens hem llevat, cap a les 7 per a prendre un café rapidet I baixar a la cova mes gran de Halong. Es una cova amb 3 cambres I la mes gran es forsa impresionant. Els guies insisteixen en mostrar-te formacions calcaries que semblen persones o animals pero lo mes interessant per mi es que durant la guerra contra fransa aqui hi vivia gent amagada del conflicte, forsa interssant!
Despres dutxa, fer la maleta I a esmorzar (amb bacon in butifarretes com li agrada al Lluis) I a pagar la factura de les begudes, etc… a les 11 arrivabem de nou al moll I cap a les 11 I mitja sortiem amb la furgoneta per a fer les 3 hores I mitja de viatge fins a Hanoi.
Al tornar a Hanoi ha estat temps de parlar amb casa per l’Skype, la Claire te 4 coses que lligar amb el lloguer de la seva casa a Anglaterra I al baixar al sud I sobretot d’aqui a 5 dies creuem de Vietnam a Tailandia via
Laos I no sabem gaire be com anira la cosa per tant era la ocasio de parlar amb els pares, a mes, ells tambe marxen de vacances!
Mes tard hem sortit a sopar en un dels edificis ‘alts’ de Hanoi a una terrassa I hem donat un tomb per les botigues a ‘agafar modelo’ aixi sabrem on anar dema!
Monday 8th August – Back on dry land.
During the night, I was woken up by the thunderstorm outside and the sound of the rain hitting the junk, but when we got up, the skies had cleared and the day was bright and still frustratingly humid. The last stop before heading back to Halong City was to go through the largest cave in the area. It was an interesting stop, but we needed the cold towels when we got back on the tender to return to the boat. The sail back to harbour was lovely and the breakfast plentiful, but neither of us really wanted to leave the junk.
After another stop at the shop and more pleas to buy a merlion, we made it back to Hanoi in the afternoon and had dinner overlooking Hoan Kiem lake.
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