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Today we start at 07:00 and the rain that looked likely last night has hit and continues this morning. The plan for today is journey 4 hours by bus to the gorgeous Halong Bay. We check out of our hotel rooms, leave our luggage and carry only an overnight pack. We are spending the night on the bay and I can't wait. Many people have said it's an amazing place. Breakfast this morning is at the Blue Dragon foundation which supports street kids and disadvantaged kids of Vietnam. The foundation has offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and was established by an Australian man. It supports children with education, language and life skills but also assists in removing children who are victims of child trafficking. Many of whom have been sold unwittingly by their desperate parents in to sweat shops. The foundation works closely with the Vietnamese government in the support it provides. We're served breakfast by a few of the children and they join us for breakfast. They practice English with us and teach us some Vietnamese. The 10 year old I'm sitting next to says I have excellent pronunciation of Vietnamese. His English is pretty damn good for a 10 year old with English as a second language. They show us some of the handicrafts they make on site and I buy a key chain shaped like a blue bug. Much better than the mass produced crap in the markets and it has a story behind it.
Back on the bus and we're off to Halong bay. About half way in to the journey we take a rest stop at a ceramics warehouse/factory. Some really nice stuff which I'd have liked to buy but not really practical to be carrying ceramics whilst backpacking. Oh well. We all enjoy some Chinese green tea while sitting in what look to be kids chairs. Back on the bus and continue our journey through the pouring rain. We arrive at the Halong Bay wharf and there are masses of people waiting to board their boats. Our group huddles in what appears to be the wharf reception centre but I'm unable to determine if it was being reconstructed or being demolished but still, it gets us out of the rain. There are some local women hawking ponchos and umbrellas to anyone and everyone. It was tempting but I avoid buying.
We're taken to the tender for our boat and chug along out to our boat for the evening. Our boat is gorgeous with stained timber everywhere. 3 levels with rooms on the lower level. We're welcomed aboard by the crew and assigned our rooms. I've been lucky this whole trip as I'm the only single male so I get my own room almost every night. My room has 2 portholes with 2 beds. I decide to sleep in the bed by the portholes thinking it'd be a nice view to wake up to. We're served a 7 course lunch on the main deck with plenty of seafood and spend the rest of the day relaxing, including a much anticipated swim in the bay. We're surrounded by mountainous cliffs that rise steeply out of the water and the water is very inviting. We spend the night anchored and enjoy another 7 course meal for dinner, no wonder I'm putting on weight!
I'd set my alarm for 06:00 in the hope of catching sunrise in the morning but sadly the rain had not let up and the sky was full of grey. I spent an hour lying in bed listening to the rain fall on the water and looking at the bay through my bedside porthole until breakfast. Last night we were told that the sister ship had an engine malfunction and we would need to tow her back to the wharf. We find her tied up alongside when we rise for breakfast. The crew try and sell us some of the local pearl jewellery but I'm not big on pearls myself. Perhaps for someone else?
Our drive back to Hanoi is via a workshop for the victims of Agent Orange. Plenty of handicrafts, clothing and some really nice artwork. I grab some lunch and some snacks for the road ahead. We get back to the hotel and given time to freshen up in the 2 day-rooms we have. I decide to catch up on the news of the world, Facebook and blog. We were in for a rough night with an overnight train journey from Hanoi to Hue.
I forgot to mention that my camera had started playing up on the first day of the tour with the shutter deciding not to open. This doesn't bode well for my bank balance. Fingers crossed it comes good. Sigh….
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