Blogs from Northeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 6

Ha Long Bay: - Cua Van Floating Fish Village Took a night train to Lao Cai.... read more

Today began as most since arriving here, filled with a downpour of rain. We were standing sill onthe road for a while on yesterday due to mud slides. The terrain is very mountainous and it has not stopped raining in days. I began with breakfast in the hotel restaurant. I had Phu, fried rice and stir fried cabbage. Not usual choices but all my meal selection have been chosen for me during this tour. After eating we retrieved to the lobby to wait on our morning briefing. While there is no guarantee, we are told the boat cruise and lunch on Halong-Bay Bay was still on. We loaded up and shortly thereafter comes news that due to the rain, the boat cruise is cancelled. This leaves us room to get some souvenir shopping done. First stop ... read more

Our motorcade load up and headed out promptly at 6:50 am. Our destination, Dong Rui Commune, Tien Yen District, Quan Nih Province. It was raining heavily and the humidity high. Our schedule was tight but subject to change due to weather and it's affect on areas we were to visit and participate in planting. The landscape here is green and chocked full of trees everywhere. Our first stop was a school where we to participate in a welcoming and awards ceremony. Attendees included local town folk, local leaders, celebrities, members of the red cross, and representative of the People's Republic. There were lots of speeches and thanks you's mostly spoken in Vietnamese and Japanese. Some attempts at English were made but we had our translator to brief us on what was going on. The venue was ... read more

Day 4 Decided to get up at 5am to catch the sunrise in Cat Ba bay. Internet said 5.20am we got up at 5am but it was already up! Am struggling this morning. The fan in the room stopped when they turned the generators off and the room is so hot. The bathroom is unpleasant and the toilet it so brown you can't tell if you've flushed! I didn't go for breakfast. Lesley left me to wallow in my self pity. Very nicely she has told me to lower my expectations. Am now dressed and feel human again. Have given myself a slap. Less of the whinging more of the fun and experience. Waiting to steam into Cat Ba. Not sure what the itinerary is today. Waiting a long time for the bus to take us ... read more

Phewwww..... Difficult nights sleep last night. I went to bed happy and content...only to be awoken at 2am by the bloody dustcart! I'm not sure how long it was there, it seemed like half am hour, at least! Helen slept through the noise, also the disturbance of me banging round looking fort ear plugs! I didn't manage to find them, so settled fort iPod earphones instead.... Finally i managed to get back to sleep. We were up at about 6.45 this morning. breakfast in the hotel was omelette sandwich and a cup of tea. This bus will be arriving at 8 - 8.30 to take us to Ha Long Bay. I expect it will take about 3 and a half hours to get there. We are going on a short cruise, 3 days and 2 nights. ... read more