Halong Bay

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Picked up by Paloma Cruise & taken to Halong Bay. Bus was full as some had their trip cancelled the day before due to rough seas? Three & a half hour trip. There was another Aussie named Nigel on tour with us. He talked all the way up with my Vicki - non-stop. Hard to say who is the bigger talker. Vicki didn't help as she continually maintained the conversation. Nigel complained about everything, in particular being ripped off money wise. Mr pessimist. He even bought a brand new Nikon SLR camera, and he was disappointed with it - because he only had a standard lens. It would appear that he lost most of his money through regular visits to the brothels, and his lack of understanding of the currency. A regular aspect of his conversation was his sexual needs. He complained about the boat; the food & the length of the trip, and the added costs if he stayed another night. Thankfully he only did the one night.

Once we boarded the boat we began our venture in amongst the many rocky monoliths. Dinner the first night took us by surprise, as it had about 7-8 courses. The food just kept coming. They catered for vegetarian, and non-pork eaters. The food was nice, but I think there was too much. Our cabin was quaint - windows & ensuite. The bed was hard, as are most Asian beds.

15/9/2012

Buffet brekkie - nice. Missing coffee due to the pain in my right shoulder and arm. Those doing the one night were taken to the "Amazing Cave". Those of us doing the 2 nights - the whole 4 of us, were taken to another area for kayaking, relaxing & swimming. Mike & Paula were the couple with us. They had only retired in June this year. The lucky buggar has only just turned 60 and is retired. Paula got a handy redundancy. I can only look forward to this. Mike finished work on the 29/6/2012, and they began a world retirement holiday on the 1/7/2012. They will go back to Great Britain in December for a wedding. The good thing was we got on really well, and seemed to be able to chat away the day without any problems. The biggest problem came when maneuvering the kayak in a small cave with the tide coming in. Paula's anxiety levels heightened; Mike's patience slacked slightly as they endeavored to turn around and get the hell out of the cave. Vicki and I didn't do much better, but we all managed to turn the vessels and get the hell out, back into calmer waters. We then continued our little adventure, with Duan as our guide. It was very pretty, and quite relaxing. We were out for approximately 1 hour or so. We returned to the boat and decided to go for a swim. I surprised myself by diving into the water from the upper deck, possibly a 12-foot dive. I still have some diving skills!!! The water was warmish. We then had a beautiful lunch, and then meandered onto another spot where there was a beach. We swam there for about an hour, and then returned to the main boat. There were now 8 new people on board - 4 from Adelaide 2 French Canadians & a pommie couple.

16/9/2012

Brekkie, then those of us who were finishing the 2 nights, and those doing the one night were taken to the "Amazing Cave". It is nestled in a picturesque little cove. We had to climb 108 steps. It was quite amazing as far as caves go. Mostly a dry cave, but quite large, with some large stalagmites etc. We were then taken back to the main boat; packed up; fed up and paid up. We were then taken to shore and dropped off, picked up by the bus and taken back to Hanoi. I was interested in some Vietnamese signs coming back. One had Sua Chua. The sad thing every time this came up it was at a cafe type place. Duc Phuc was another unlikely sign. I guess the book on 101 sexual positions can now be rewritten as there may just be another one????

When we got back to Hanoi we freshened up a little then went to pick up our glasses we had put in to get new lenses. Unfortunately I had let Vicki talk me into getting my sunglass lenses renewed as they had some scratches on them. She had put her new frames in, and had brought her prescription with her. She emphasized through an interpreter that she wanted the lenses to be thin, not thick glass at the bottom. What she got was coke bottle lenses at the bottom. They stuffed up my graduated lenses. The bottom lens was ok, but the top for long distance was now somewhat blurry. They cost us $70 @. I would recommend that anyone considering getting their glass prescription done in Vietnam - DON'T!!!!!

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