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MeznG. In the air, on the road, river or sea again
This morning at 7.30am, we left our beautiful Hotel in Hanoi after a delightful breakfast to travel 4 hours to HaLong Bay. The drive is interesting. Quite heavy traffic but once again it just flows. Because we had an early start we did avoid the morning rush in Hanoi but we did encounter a bottle neck when the main highway was condensed to one line of traffic because of road works. Once past this it's pretty easy going, passing through many towns along the way all with their very narrow 3 or 4 story houses with the family business at street level. The towns are surrounded by rice and other agriculture crops namely lotus and banana.
After the customary stop at a Government run business where we see people making embroidered pictures, making clothing and selling jewelry and we can buy a cup of coffee or other refreshment we are on our way again.
All along the highway we have noticed that there are numbers spray painted on the safety rails. They appear to be phone numbers and there are also men sitting on motor bikes dotted along the side of the road as well. These numbers and these men are the Vietnamese road side assist. If you get a puncture or run out of fuel, you can call one of these numbers or track down one of these guys and they will assist you for a price. Innovative!
Arriving at the dock in Halong Bay we are greeted by a very enthusiastic team of people all anxious to get us inside and provide complimentary refreshments while we wait to board our vessel.
Our cruise director is Ronald, he is from the Philippines and he and his staff will fall over themselves to serve us.
Our cabins are very comfortable and as we settle in we start cruising towards these huge limestone islets.
The scenery is beautiful, never ending and always changing. As we enjoy our lunch we meet other guests on the cruise and some of these people we will be continuing the rest of our trip with.
There is a fairly full schedule of activities for the afternoon. We are going to have the opportunity to go into a cave either by kayak or traditional row boat. We chose the row boat. There are 5 of us and the fisherman. We put on our conical hats and he begins to row the boat while standing on the back. He is a local fisherman. They live on the bay in floating villages and they catch fish and harvest oysters. The island we pass is called Monkey Island.
We pass through a limestone cave with many stalagmites and it is home to heaps of bats. Once through the cave we are in the lagoon. It's so peaceful and still in here. The fisherman tells us that he comes here with his children to swim and if there is a typhoon, all of the villagers bring their boats through the cave and into the lagoon to shelter from the weather.
We watch an eagle fishing for its lunch and on the way back we see monkeys swinging between the trees on the cliff face.
Back on our boat we are greeted with a cold drink and a wet face washer to help cool off. It is very hot.
After about another 30 minutes of cruising, we stop and have the chance to swim off the back if the boat.The water is quite warm and there is a strong current but thankfully it is pulling us toward the boat and not away from it. We have more than half an hour swim time before we move on through the bay.
At 5 o'clock it's happy hour, which is most welcome by all.
Just before 6 we have put down the anchor in the spot where we will spend the night. It's so beautiful nestled here between these fabulous limestone islands.
At 6 we have a cooking class and learn how to make Vietnamese Spring Rolls. It's a lot of fun. Next we have a traditional Vietnamese Toast with rice wine. It tastes like the worst type of medicine ever.
Dinner is a treat as well and we have to dress in a National Vietnamese costume.
After dinner we venture to the sun deck to watch the stars. It's so warm and there is a spectacular light show continuing with lightening all around us.
After the customary stop at a Government run business where we see people making embroidered pictures, making clothing and selling jewelry and we can buy a cup of coffee or other refreshment we are on our way again.
All along the highway we have noticed that there are numbers spray painted on the safety rails. They appear to be phone numbers and there are also men sitting on motor bikes dotted along the side of the road as well. These numbers and these men are the Vietnamese road side assist. If you get a puncture or run out of fuel, you can call one of these numbers or track down one of these guys and they will assist you for a price. Innovative!
Arriving at the dock in Halong Bay we are greeted by a very enthusiastic team of people all anxious to get us inside and provide complimentary refreshments while we wait to board our vessel.
Our cruise director is Ronald, he is from the Philippines and he and his staff will fall over themselves to serve us.
Our cabins are very comfortable and as we settle in we start cruising towards these huge limestone islets.
The scenery is beautiful, never ending and always changing. As we enjoy our lunch we meet other guests on the cruise and some of these people we will be continuing the rest of our trip with.
There is a fairly full schedule of activities for the afternoon. We are going to have the opportunity to go into a cave either by kayak or traditional row boat. We chose the row boat. There are 5 of us and the fisherman. We put on our conical hats and he begins to row the boat while standing on the back. He is a local fisherman. They live on the bay in floating villages and they catch fish and harvest oysters. The island we pass is called Monkey Island.
We pass through a limestone cave with many stalagmites and it is home to heaps of bats. Once through the cave we are in the lagoon. It's so peaceful and still in here. The fisherman tells us that he comes here with his children to swim and if there is a typhoon, all of the villagers bring their boats through the cave and into the lagoon to shelter from the weather.
We watch an eagle fishing for its lunch and on the way back we see monkeys swinging between the trees on the cliff face.
Back on our boat we are greeted with a cold drink and a wet face washer to help cool off. It is very hot.
After about another 30 minutes of cruising, we stop and have the chance to swim off the back if the boat.The water is quite warm and there is a strong current but thankfully it is pulling us toward the boat and not away from it. We have more than half an hour swim time before we move on through the bay.
At 5 o'clock it's happy hour, which is most welcome by all.
Just before 6 we have put down the anchor in the spot where we will spend the night. It's so beautiful nestled here between these fabulous limestone islands.
At 6 we have a cooking class and learn how to make Vietnamese Spring Rolls. It's a lot of fun. Next we have a traditional Vietnamese Toast with rice wine. It tastes like the worst type of medicine ever.
Dinner is a treat as well and we have to dress in a National Vietnamese costume.
After dinner we venture to the sun deck to watch the stars. It's so warm and there is a spectacular light show continuing with lightening all around us.
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