Our second honeymoon

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  Halong Bay / Cat Ba Island, Vietnam
Monday, May 12, 2003

9th May - 3 day Halong Bay / Cat Ba Island trip at US$25 each. We had a minubus all to ourselves for the 2 hour journey to Halong Bay and we chatted with our personal guide Mr Future. He kept telling us that this was a special trip just for us and it was our second honeymoon and that he wanted to do everything he could to make it just right for us. We had a conversation about names and what he should call us as they like to put Mr in front of your first name. Somehow he got very confused about the whole thing and ended up calling out to Pip "Johnson!" at the top of his voice every time he wanted to get our attention. At Halong Bay we stopped for lunch and had the place to ourselves. They brought out a few dishes, followed by a few more dishes, followed by a few more so that in the end we had 10 dishes plus fruit all just for the two of us. We hardly made a dent in the masses of lovely food they had provided and we had the best spring rolls there which are one of the many national dishes of Vietnam. Stuffed full, we waddled down the pier to our boat. We were amazed at the beautiful wooden junk type vessel which was to take us around the hundreds of islands of Halong Bay, and even more amazed when we realised that we were still on our own! We had thought we would probably meet other passengers at the harbour but Mr Future told us the whole boat was ours as it was our special second honeymoon that he had organised for us (boy was he working hard for his tip!) The bottom level was the bedrooms if you wanted to sleep aboard and there were showers and western toilets. The second deck was a shady dining area with fabulously ornate teak furniture, room enough for more than 36 people! The top deck was an open area with lots of sun chairs so we layed there reading and sunbathing as we cruised around the beautiful scenic limestone islands, watching the Vietnamese fishing boats. After about an hour we stopped for a look in the Amazing Cave which is just that. The entrance opened out to a huge space suitable for a rock concert and Mr Future led us around explaining all the various myths and legends connected with the different shapes. One particular myth (we hope) surrounded a queen who wanted children and came here to pray and was then blessed with a beautful family. Mr Future was particularly insistent that this cave would be lucky for us too and we have given up trying to tell people that we don't have children through choice. He also told us at one point to close our eyes as he had something special for Mr and Missy Johnson on this special second honeymoon that he had arranged for us (you get the picture now?). When we opened our eyes he was proudly pointing his little light at some stalacmites that looked just like a man and woman! Aaahhhh, bless! Pip found a formation that looked like a jellyfish and Mr Future was so impressed that he pumped Pip's hand in thanks that he had another story to tell his next customers. By the end of the day we were almost hysterical with laughter at the effort this little chap was going to to make it a really nice trip for us and we certainly didn't feel like backpackers so I suppose it was a bit like a second honey moon. We stopped again a bit later and Mr Future shouted out "Johnson you come swim with me now!" from the bottom deck but I had seen the extra large jellyfish in the water so there was no way I was going in. Mr Future and the captain of the boat jumped in excitedly but couldn't swim all that well so kept hanging onto Pip to get their breath. They were in 5 metre deep water so this wasn't such a good idea. The only phrase the captin could say in English was "You do a big bomb now" so Pip impressed them by backflopping into the water and stinging his back. Our third stop on this wonderful trip was to allow a little fishing boat to pull up alongside so that we could buy crabs and huge mantis prawns from the hold of the little craft. They offered some to us to buy but we stupidly refused and later regretted our decision as they could cook it on the boat for us. We vowed to get some seafood on the island instead.

When we arrived on Cat Ba Island we were taken by minibus to the main town and our hotel where we had our evening meal. The food was good and thankfully not as much as lunchtime as we shared a big table with other guests. Everything except our drinks had been part of the ticket price, including the hotel and breakfast the next day.

10th May - After breakfast we found another hotel as we were staying an extra night independently. We managed to get a room with views of the busy harbour and all the floating restaurants and it had a balcony too. We jumped on a motorbike taxi (three adults on one bike up a hill - very amusing) and walked around the walkway to the beach. We passed the first beach which according to the guides is the most crowded but today had only about 10 people on it. At the next beach there were a few Vietnamese in the water fully dressed with their inner tubes but as it was nearing 11ish they soon got out and everyone disappeared. There was another western couple and ourselves on the entire beach and we just chilled out and relaxed. I had crab noodles for lunch and we saw the lady run off after she had served our drinks. About 20 minutes later we saw her running back across the walkway with a crab in her hand - obviously my crab was going to be very fresh! About 3.30pm clusters of Vietnamese people began arriving and many of the women had cast off their invisible man outfits now that the sun had gone down a little (hat, sunglasses, scarf over the face, long gloves, long sleeved tops etc). The men would run to the water's edge and discard their long shorts and run in before people could see them in their speedos. The women would keep their towels around the shoulders even in the water and their swim suits were similar to those from the 50's and 60's. They all had their pictures taken by their hired photographer and then the whole family would hold the inner tube and just bob in the water. When they came out they would hop on one leg with their fingers in their ears to get rid of the water. We couldn't stop laughing as we peered over our books and couldn't believe that something as simple as bathing in the sea could be so different to home. There was also a man with a leg missing who they carried into the water so that he could swim with the tube as well. Unfortunately they were unprepared for the waves (VERY little ones) and they dropped him not far in. He was okay once he got his breath back though so no harm done. We decided to walk the shortway back to town but were accosted by motorbike taxis again. One offered "motorbike?" and when we said no thanks he looked beweildered and replied "but it's a Honda!" (The Honda Dream is the most popular bike in Vietnam.) After our walk we sat on the balcony with the local beer and relaxed while taking in the views - after all it had been a hard day. I had my crab for tea for just over one pound but after fighting with it for half an hour I had to have a salad as well. Lovely atmosphere on the harbour front with lots of locals spending the weekend but there are loads of ghastly coloured lights flashing all the time and they are doing a lot of buildig work on the island to cope the increase in tourism (prior to SARS of course).

11th May - Time to go back. Again we had the boat to ourselves even though we had effectively stopped and then re-joined our tour. We had to get a motorcycle taxi to the boat and Pip's driver was a bit of speed demon and passed all the coaches and cars etc. It was much hotter today so we could only sunbathe for a little while. A young Vietnamese girl on the boat named Twee (possibly staff we never did find out) was stroking my arm as she wanted to be the same colour as me (i.e. pasty!) We sailed past oyster farms and yet more islands and then stopped for a swim at a beach. Twee decided to buy a swim suit so that she could join us and as my suit is falling apart I thought I might too. She came out of the change room saying it didn't fit as she was too fat (about 1/2 my size) so I didn't bother asking at all! We had a fab lunch on the boat with some mantis prawns provided by Mr Future as a present and he said I used my chopsticks like a Vietnamese woman.

When we got back to our guest house we were completely relaxed and sun tanned and full of food and we had had a really lovely time and the trip was such a bargain and yes we did give Mr Future a good tip for providing a special second honeymoon trip for us. Definitely one of the best things we have done on our trip so far.

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