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Friday : morning rain - sunny
Kim and I crashed out well last night. I woke up around 5:30am to loud thunder and rain. Immediately I thought oh no rain, not today.
When we eventually woke up, the storm had moved on, and we went up the road for some breakfast. A little expensive $11, but we had a lot and it was really good. Probably our best tasting (paid for) breaky so far.
We got picked up from our hotel, about 8:30 by a van. Got taken to the boat or Junk (the Vietnamese call their old boats junks, funny that). Our group was a small one too, which was good. Strangely enough no Vietnamese on this tour either, that's a first.
Our timber boat was good. Very quiet, unlike most other junks, It had a big rooftop sitting area were we could sprawl out, and a big under cover area for lunch and for when it rained, which it did on occasions. It kind of rained when it suited us though. It rained when we first started to chug off, so we got talking to each other. Then it stopped for awhile, so we took photos of the limestone islands. Then it rained when we went into a cave, then it stopped, for more photos. It rained when we were inside having lunch on the boat, (I did give the seafood a miss) then it stopped. The only time it rained when we were outside was briefly, when we were swimming at a secluded private beach, but even then it was fine.
The whole day was amazing. Well I did feel a bit sea sick in the morning, thankfully no vomit. It was Amazing how the limestone islands rise up out of the water so sharply, and they are scattered everywhere. Not sure why it's called Halong Bay? The area where these islands are, is huge. They form many bays not just one. They all use to be attached to the mainland, but over sixteen or so thousand years, the large inland rivers that carved through the area, eroded the stone, and the bay was formed. Kind of like the twelve apostles down in Mexico.
There were nowhere near as many boats or people as I was expecting. It seemed like the only other boats and people that were there, were the fishing boats, and people that lived at the many floating villages.Even at the caves we visited. One cave we had all to ourselves. It was a small cave we had to crawl through the entry and exit. We could get up nice and close to all the goodies in this cave. The other cave, there was maybe 3 other boats there. This cave was massive though, so we still felt like it was just the people in our group. You can always rely on the Vietnamese to break the silence though. With all their hoiking, snorting and spitting. Kim was quite disgusted by this, and if they could understand English, they would of understood her telling them how she felt.
Another thing we noticed towards the end of our walk through this big cave, was that the cave had no protection from all the Vietnamese climbing over it. Well it kind of did there were a couple stop signs, and there was a single rope, both sides of the pathway that we followed. This Was not enough to keep the Vietnamese at bay, and to stop the cave from turning black from being touched. There was also an awful amount graffiti there too. Quite sad really, because the cave was grand, the colours stood out under lighting, and to see what people have done or not done to protect it. The cave is also a part of the natural wonder. Like the cave the bay's waterways had litter all throughout it. Amazing how uneducated Asia is with pollution, preservation and what bins are used for.
Anyways back to our activities. Next we pulled up at a large floating fish farm/ fishing village, and went for a half hour kayak. It was cool we could go off and explore by ourselves. Go off and paddle around all the formations. We could go and have near misses with all the sharp, hard formations too. We saw how the houses stayed put too. They're not anchored to the sea bed, they're tied off to the formations with long thick rope. Thought about cutting a few, and watching them drift away, that wouldn't be very nice though. They position these villages in the nice calm waters too. We figured out why we keep seeing polystyrene floating everywhere too through the bay. They use big sections of polystyrene and old oil drums to stay afloat. Apparently some of these village people have never ever stepped foot on land. Freaky.
The highlight of the day was the swim at the secluded beach. We all jumped into the water off the boat. The water felt great, Kim and i just swam around looking in water caves and up at the cliffs. Made our way to the beach and chilled for a bit, we had around an hour there 'twas Fantastic.
We didn't have to catch the mini bus back into town we got dropped off by the boat at the jetty, right out the front of our hotel. I was so relaxed when we got back. We grabbed a couple beers and watched the sunset from our balcony. Then got ready for dinner.
Dinner was nice, but again the language barrier came into effect here in this town. Saying we wanted potatoes and butter, means they will bring out French fries, and saying we want fried noodles means they will bring out fried rice. And after them saying no we can't make you a chocolate milk shake means yes we can?? Ah well we will just have to try another restaurant tomorrow night. Probably go back the the same place that we had breakfast, they were good.
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Cathy Budda is a little feller, so cute. Glad to hear about perfect days.