Going nowhere slowly {Darrell}

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I feel disoriented before coffee at the best of times, but narrowing down my bearings to a floating junk off the Vietnamese coast took a little longer than usual. Wow! Maybe the best part of being on holiday is the daily early-morning realisation that you're not going to be working today.

We joined our fellw sailors in the galley for a light breakfast. The sea air and magnificent views were definately having good effect. Everyone was looking surprisingly awake considering our boat had run out of wine and been forced to dock wth another to re-supply last night.

After breakfast we docked at a small island. About 50 metres up the cliff face (lots of stairs!) we passed into the gaping mouth of what has been imaginatively named Surprising Cave. The cave system was made up of 3 large chambers, apparently large enough to hold 5000 people. The impressive stalactite & stalagmite formations were well lit with coulored lights. I won't give away what the surprise is.

Back on the boat, 6 of the 9 transferred to another boat to go sleep on one of the islands. The remaining three of us cruised back to Halong city and then slept in the bus back to Hanoi.

Bak in the capital we rushed around getting flight tickets and cancelling my card, then dropped in to the traditional water puppet theater. Althugh the whole show was in Vietnamese, the puppets were incredible and the puppeteers fantastic. The show was also accompanied by a live traditional band, so it turned out to be a worthwhile show.

There was just enough time for us to grab a kebab from a guy on the street, and then we headed off to the train station to atch our overnight train to Lo Cai.

It was really exciting to get onto the train and find our little woden cabin with it's 4 beds. As the train pulled out of the station it made a quick cut through the center of the city where we could see an endless mass of motorbike traffic backed up against the tracks waiting for the train to pass and the roads to re-open. Then the train turned North and headed off into the night towards the mountains.

Lying back on our pillows with our beds gently swaying to the train's rythm, it mas minutes before we were fast asleep.

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Photos

Looking down at a still bay
The bay early in the morning, from the mouth of the Surprising Cave

The third chamber
A huge open space inside one of the karsts

Water Puppets
The puppeteers control them from behind the curtain with long sticks

Comments

[Burgert]

aaaah, good coffee.... (makes the world go around)
Ditto (or amen??) on that coffee comment at the top of the page! :) And beautiful pics again! Thanx for your effort guys, really appreciate the updates and especially the photos. Keep well, the sun and surf is waiting for the both of ya (my Yankee accent kicking in) - oh, and me!