6.00am and a wake up call of gongs increasing in tempo. Not sure what that was about, but it got me up!
Off we went, to a typical sumptuous breakfast provided by Asian hotels. Fresh everything juice and a bit of fruit followed by some scrambled eggs and I am ready for the drive to Halong Bay.
it was a 2 hour rather tedious drive up the tollway with a couple of rest room stops and a half hour stop at a place that sold beautiful but expensive pearls. Not interested! If I want pearls I will get them at home.
it was a 2 hour rather tedious drive up the tollway with a couple of rest room stops and a half hour stop at a place that sold beautiful but expensive pearls. Not interested! If I want pearls I will get them at home.
Arriving at Halong, we continued to wait for our speed boat shuttle out to the main boat that was anchored out in the bay. There were a few fellow Aussies on the tour and a couple from England, and we all waited for our shuttle boat to appear while our luggage went on another boat.
Finally we boarded the shuttle and motored off towards our berth for the night. Passing the many islands was interesting even though I had to peer above the high windows in the speedboat.
Arriving at our destination for the night, we were given a briefing and then shown into the dining room for lunch.
Seafood and Asian delicacies were the order of the day and Ross indulged in the oysters .
There is a vast array of nationalities on the boat, as you would expect, and I have had a few chats with an English couple and some Aussies from Melbourne. There is a large group of (I presume) Vietnamese family and a lot of young people from Iran.
After our lunch we had a brief break and then we were off to kayak into a cave that was set into the surrounding mountains.
We all piled into the tender boat and chugged off into the distance. Eventually arriving in an area where we docked and loaded ourselves into fibreglass kayaks for the paddle through a cave into an area surrounded by high mountains.
Ross and I powered off and tried to avoid the crazy people who kept trying to bump into us. I don’t think too many of these people had actually been in a kayak before!
The surrounding area was very picturesque and I was wishing that I was there without all these other people, and in my own kayak as it would have been lovely.
We paddled off following the other ‘bamboo’ boats, which are actually fibreglass and are rowed by both men and women and carry several passengers, and continued on into and through a cave which terminated in a lovely lagoon, surrounded by dense rainforest.
It was very pretty and a reasonable paddle which gave us a little exercise for the day.
Paddling back to the dock (and passing our English friends) we discovered that most of our fellow crew mates were still trying to make it back.
After another several minutes most of us were back on board and then we saw one of the guys diving into the murky water. Apparently either he or his girlfriend had lost their phone overboard while kayaking and he was trying to find it in the murky water. I didn’t like his chances, and we had to leave before the phone was located. Not sure if anyone recovered it after we left but they seemed happy enough later on at the main boat.
Back at the boat and we had a brief respite for a shower and then it was off to the Sunset party and happy hour. We relaxed on the top deck with a few cocktails and watched all the dozens of boats crowding into the bay where we were anchored.
The weather has been cool and cloudy the whole time we have been in Vietnam and there wasn’t any sunset tonight. It has actually been much cooler than Perth and I have been wearing a light jumper most of the time. Not at all what I was expecting. I think it may get warmer as we move towards Cambodia though.
The weather has been cool and cloudy the whole time we have been in Vietnam and there wasn’t any sunset tonight. It has actually been much cooler than Perth and I have been wearing a light jumper most of the time. Not at all what I was expecting. I think it may get warmer as we move towards Cambodia though.
Dinner was at 7pm and was a 5 course affair with soup, salad, entree, main of sea bass and a very nice pineapple pannacotta for dessert. After dinner one of the tour guides entertained us with a couple of songs, and then some of the guests went squid fishing, but since we have no interest in fishing of any kind we decided to call it a night. Tomorrow it is an early wake up (maybe) for Tai Chi and then off to King King scull island before heading back to shore.
ken
2023-03-28
nice paddle - I'll watch out for it on Strava