We awaited our transport to take us to Ha Long Bay after breakfast, saying goodbye to the staff of the Royal Palace Hotel. Being first on the mini bus we camped out on the back seat as our guide for the journey, Tom, informed us how many were coming.
Driving through the Old quarter we picked up other travellers from different hotels. Some of the streets were winding and narrow. A street of a hundred coffee retailers, kids clothes, bamboo, motorbike parts. Virtually everything you wanted in life.
Out into a more affluent part of town we strayed to pick up a family of - Iranians. They were staying at the Metropole not a place we could afford; he must have been well connected to the ayatollah? And finally: we were free of the city and its mad traffic, heading down a dual carriageway flanked on either side by verdant, green crops; Vietnam's wholesale greengrocer and also plenty of duck ponds.
The journey time was three and a half hours, hard to read or even write this blog as the bus braked and lurched from side to side as our driver considered it a challenge to overtake everything in sight. The small towns we passed by were grey and grubby in the rain, hardly anyone about but as we saw plenty of huge factories we guessed most folk were working. Funniest thing we saw at one point was a man on a motorbike with his child and a dead cow strapped to the back - only in Vietnam.
There was an obligatory toilet stop halfway. This was conveniently at a sort of factory outlet store where to get to a cup of coffee you had to walk through a production line of disabled people all engaged in handicrafts. Salesmen and women jumped out at you from both directions - "No pal, I'm not paying £100 for a tapestry - I don't care if the artist is disabled!" I'm sorry, I didn't sign up for a visit to a shop, we're going to Ha Long Bay.
We disembarked at the harbour after that horrendous drive to be met by a flotilla of cruise ships anchored out a few hundred metres away. Our operator was Starlight Cruises, although others are available. We were all taken out to the ship on a tender that was eventually tied to the rear of our floating hotel and we were given a welcome brief in the dinning room/bar. Our fellow passengers weren't bonding as well as our shipmates on the Meekong cruise but we did start to make some friends.
A giant Samoan, Mike, a citizen of the States and his wife, four Estonian lads, an Aussie couple from central New South Wales ( he'd worked in Odstock Hospital near Salisbury, we found out) and some Germans became on talking terms with each other - the Iranians kept themselves to themselves.
Lunch was a constant flow of food to the table, all local and all tasty. Lynn and me decided to ditch the trip out to the caves afterwards and snook down to our cabin for a siesta. We were the first ones to the bar at 5 pm for Happy Hour, well, you do - don't you?
There then followed a masterclass in making hot spring rolls, well, Lynn was in catering, followed by another gargantuan evening meal. That accomplished it was time for a splash about in the jacuzzi before heading back up to the bar to help Mike and his wife celebrate their 3rd wedding anniversary, ably assisted by the Estonians and the Germans. Oh did I have fun!
Early next morning it was Tai Chi on the poop deck. It had seemed a good idea the night before but when that alarm went off at 6am all sorts of things went through our minds such as bugger that! We prevailed and met other bleary eyed shipmates up top. Actually it was quite invigorating and set us up nicely for breakfast, after which I went off on the tender for a trip to a fishing village.
You may be now asking, dear reader, when is the old git going to explain where the hell he is in the world and what's so special about it. I could at this point say Google it, and you may well do so. All I can say about this UNESCO Heritage site is - breathtaking. Over 1600 individual large and small islands make up this amazing natural phenomenon and on the trip we cruised ever so slowly around many of them. Waking up in the morning was surreal as we turned on the anchor, looking out of the picture window of the cabin at rock formations that have taken 500 million years to form - purely magical, whatever the weather.
What our guide failed to tell us about the trip to the village (there was also kayaking available, stuff that, I've done that in the army, it was rubbish) was that it was a floating village, actually several plus a visit to a pearl farm. We got off the tender onto a floating pontoon and piled into small boats that were rowed by one tiny person, ours was female - how the hell was she going to power our craft with seven heavy arsed westerners in it?
I imagine thousands of years ofrowing these boats to fish has given the people a genetic advantage over mere mortals like us. Apparently it's all in the leaning forward, not in the shoulders. That sounded logical as if it were the other way round these rowers would be great golfers!
At the pearl farm I was glad I hadn't brought my wallet. The average necklace was £375. A pity because it's Lynn's birth stone - she'll be waiting until our next trip here for one of those!
Back on board Starlight Cruises we packed our bags, vacated the rooms and had another massive meal before leaving. It had been a magical cruise around natural features many could only imagine visiting. If you do ever get the chance to visit Vietnam, come to Ha Long Bay, you'll not regret it.
All that was left now was that horrendous drive back to Hanoi, factory outlet included, and for us the prospect of an overnight train at 10pm to Danang for onwards transportation to Hoi An.
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