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Halong Bay
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Halong Bay
18th January 2007 We are picked up early for our trip to Halong Bay (a UNESCO World heritage site) where we spend the night aboard the "Dragon Pearl" junk. It's a long drive but worth it as the boat is great and the scenery stunning. After a welcome drink of very sweet tea We are relieved to find our cabin is fantastic. It is all dark hardwood, has a big double bed, sea view and ensuite including piping hot water! It gets only better from now on as we sit down to enjoy a delicious 9 course lunch! The food is amazing in Vietnam, reason enough to visit. We cruise out of the bay cutting through the azure blue coloured water. The backdrop of the limstone peaks (some 3000!) are very dramatic. We pass a floating village where apparently the local inhabitants only step foot on the mainland when in need of medical attention - God knows what they do when a Typhoon hits! On the evening we sit down to a fabulous meal and enjoy the remainder of the night drinking beer with our fellow passengers who incidently are all Australian but a good laugh. Halong Bay is simply stunning, I just wish that it was summer so I could go swimming.
19th January 2007 It's early morning as we awake to the sound of other boats leaving the spot where we spent the night. I pull back the curtain and take in the fantastic view. After breakfast we head off to see the Sung Sot cave or "Amazing Cave". It's the biggest cave I have ever seen, about the size of a football pitch. After the cave visit we cruise back to the port for our return journey to crazy Hanoi. Rachel and I manage to find a sheltered spot at the rear of the boat where we sit back and enjoy the view. After a long drive we get back to Hanoi, we are dropped off at Hoan Kiem Lake as we are planning to catch a bus to Ninh Binh. Guess what? the bus doesn't turn up, in fact we are told it is picking up passengers in another part of town. The local operator quickly whisks us across town by taxi (my bag goes by moped, is this the last I will see of it?) Eventually we get to the waiting bus and pile on. The bus is packed and some poor Vietnamese girl is pulled from her seat to make way for us, the only westeners on board. We are a little nervous but the locals don't give us a second glance. After a 2 hour bus ride entertained by a DVD of the Vietnamese verision of Ronan Keiting we finally arive at our destination the "Thuy Anh Hotel".
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