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Published: March 18th 2007
You’ll be glad (I hope!) to hear that I survived the madness that is St Patrick’s Day and somehow managed to get up at 5am to catch my train to Byron Bay- quite some effort I’ll have you know. Hope you all had a great day as well- although gutted for both the Scottish and the Irish in the rugby. Anyway, into the next instalment of my travels…
Seeing as how Will and I had landed a larger room, Adam transferred his bags meaning I didn’t have to move. We went to the lobby at 7 to meet our ‘new’ group. I say ‘new’ as 6 people- including myself- were continuing from the last tour. As it transpired, there were only 8 of us for this tour, along with our new leader Julie- an Irish girl in her early 30s. The new members of the group were Robyn and Helen- friends from Sydney in their late 40s. Helen is actually English but has been living in Sydney for some 10 years. They both came across as being very friendly, as did our new leader Julie. However, it must have been slightly awkward for them to begin with seeing as the
rest of us knew each other so well. Further, I found it took me a few days to adjust to the new group set up- probably since there were only 2 new members it felt as if half the group was missing all the time- and of course we had all got on so well.
After the formalities of local payment, visa discussion (naturally Adam got a ribbing there following his escapades getting into Vietnam) and general talk about the trip ahead, we went for our first group dinner- a buffet at a local Vietnamese restaurant. The food was lovely and it was a nice setting sitting outdoors in the warmth of the evening. Robyn, Helen and Julie were soon getting on really well with everyone- they are all pretty outgoing people. I instantly found Julie great craic, and it was really nice to be able to speak normally- without being asked to translate a word or two or to slow down!
We returned to the hotel, and Adam and I got a chance to say goodbye to Monica and Alex- who visited their room after their day trip to Halong Bay. They commented that the sights were
amazing, but it made them realise just how great our group was as apparently the people on their tour didn’t have much chat. I loosely arranged to catch up with them in Canberra when I was there. They stayed in the hotel that night, and left at 6 to make their way to the airport to fly home.
Luckily for us, the first official day of this new tour began in similar fashion to how the last one ended- with an included buffet breakfast at Koto’s. Following this we loaded up the minibus and made the 2 hour drive to Haiphong. Seeing as there was only 9 of us- as opposed to 13- there was more room for us all. In Haiphong, we made a quick stop at a supermarket to buy some lunch. We then boarded our ferry at 1230 for the 3 hour crossing to Cat Ba Island- which is the largest of more than 3000 islands within Halong Bay. The scenery as we approached Cat Ba Island was amazing- the sun was fully out and the backdrop beautiful. The owner of the hotel we were staying at, Mr Hai, was there to greet us. Naturally, there
New Recruits
Robyn, Julie, Helen, Adam, Me, Dianawas some general banter including things like ‘Hi Hai!’ etc. Things I’m sure he’s never heard before… Anyway, we made the 10min walk to the hotel and learned we were all staying on either the 4th or 5th floor- and that the hotel didn’t have a lift. Not a problem for my young legs and up I went to drop off my bags. However, I came straight back down as Adam’s luggage was a monstrous sized suitcase (he is American after all!) and there’s not a chance he could of lifted it up the stairs himself- I doubt he’d even of managed half a flight! Not exactly a practical bag to have with so much moving around involved on the tour, but he insisted that he didn’t have the strength in his shoulders to carry a backpack. Stairs and hills were to become a recurring theme in the next couple of weeks- so he was darn lucky I was there and happy enough to help him cart his monster suitcase. As Julie pointed out at the back end of the tour- if I hadn’t been there Adam would have been in a spot of bother- no one else in our
group could have lifted it! They were having trouble enough carrying their own at times!
Anyway, the hotel was really nice and clean and we had a lovely view out onto the water from our room. Adam, Diana, Felicity and I explored the small village we were staying in, which was really pretty although there wasn’t really much else to see or do. So we went for a bite to eat and a drink and sat in the sunshine. We met up with the rest of the group for dinner in the evening, which again was an awesome Vietnamese buffet- I was really surprised at how well I was taking to the food.
The following day we had the chance to explore the island by virtue of a guided motorbike tour. Felicity had taken ill overnight so stayed in bed at the hotel. Once again, our local guides had barely a word of English between them but were great fun. The scenery at times was just breathtaking. We made a few stops, the major one being at the hospital caves- which we were shown round by a retired army general, a real character if ever you’ve met one.
The hospital caves were used as such during the Vietnamese War, as they provided protection to patients and workers alike during air raids overhead. The rooms were very small with most of them just tall enough to stand in- it is incredible to try and picture the scenes during the War when it would have been full of patients, doctors and nurses.
We were dropped back at the hotel at lunchtime, and only Adam and I had booked anything for the afternoon. Monkey Island was our destination, and we were taken there on the hour and a half journey by a private boat. En route we had lunch (quite an experience whilst sitting on deck on very choppy waters) and I had a few beers- Adam being a non-drinker had a couple of cokes. Adam began to feel the cold so he put his jacket on and the guy who owned the boat gave him a blanket to wrap up in. Being a hardened Scot, I was more than comfortable in my shorts and t-shirt. On the island itself, we were pretty disappointed only to see 2 monkeys despite doing a pretty tough hour hike involving a fair bit
of climbing over rocks. However, the island itself was beautiful and well worth the trip alone- and the 2 monkeys we did see were close up. So it was then back on the boat, where we were soon handed another couple of beers/ cokes. Only when we were docking at Cat Ba Island were we hit with the drinks bill- a bit cheeky seeing as we were told lunch and drinks were included but not much we could do apart from pay up. When we spoke to Mr Hai about it back at the hotel he put it down to translation problems!
Dinner that night was a barbeque on the beach. Felicity passed as she was still under the weather, and Adam decided he wasn’t particularly hungry. Once again, the food was top notch and there was plenty to go around. We then sat round the fire for a few hours for a couple of drinks and some chat.
The following day we made the trip to the infamous Halong Bay itself. Thankfully, Felicity was feeling a good bit better. After lugging Adam’s case back down the stairs, we made our way back to the harbour where we boarded
our private boat. The Bay itself was truly spectacular- as were the caves we were shown around. Once we’d exhausted all photo possibilities, we re-boarded the boat. The Captain asked if anyone wanted to swim in the Bay, and to his disbelief myself and Robyn instantly said yes- I think he presumed it was too cold for anyone to even consider it! However, I soon proved him wrong by diving off the boat into the water below. Granted it was pretty cool, but still very comfortable and refreshing for a quick swim. The current was really strong however, so as to not get too far from the boat, I swam furiously against the current to effectively stay in the same spot! We left the boat at about 1 which was eventful- the port was full so to dock the many a boat were tied together- so to get to shore you had to walk across 4 boats! Needless to say I was employed to make a fair few trips to carry some bags…!
We then had a 5 hour minibus journey to the Vietnamese border town of Lang Son, just 10 miles south of China. En route we made
a brief stop at the Hong Ngoc Humanity Centre- where there was many a painting, sculpture and local handiwork on show- didn’t exactly appeal to me I have to admit. The border town of Lang Son was another sort of nothing town, which didn’t really matter seeing as we arrived at 7 and were leaving first thing in the morning anyway. Following his experience last week, Adam checked and double checked his Chinese Visa to make absolutely sure he had the date’s right- which thankfully he did!
I will close here, and pick up next time with our impending border crossing into China.
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Michty6
Mich Sneddon
Monkey Island!
Hahaha I cant believe there is actually a place called Monkey Island! You ever played that computer game? It's one of my favourites, it's hilarious!