Halong Bay Part I

Day 65 - 29/07/2010 - 22:04 - Hanoi Opera, Halong Bay, Vietnam

As I write this I'm in my double room cabin on the Hanoi Opera junk, floating somewhere on Halong Bay. I cannot quite describe how amazing today has been.

It was an early start, at 6:30am when we got up to pack up our things and make our way downstairs. There was a power cut whilst we were getting ready and we ate breakfast by candlelight. It was strange and painful as the lack of air conditioning was obvious. I had the same as yesterday which was great, The power was off right up until we left, I overheard the hotel owner tell someone that sometimes the government cut off a road to save power for a day. Strange. Either that or they haven't paid their electricity bill!

The bus came at around 8:10am and was fully air conditioned for the trip to Halong Bay. We made a brief stop over at a souvenir shop with a snack shop - there is a surprise! By the time we got to Halong City to board our boat it was gone 12 noon. We were greeted at the shore by a small boat which took us out to the big junk we are on at the moment. The Hanoi Opera. The boat is stunning 3 floors and a roof top deck. The ground floor (1) is where we are staying and is also the entrance to the boat from the smaller one. On the second floor is exactly the same whilst the 3rd floor is a restaurant and open decking. The roof terrace is fantastic.

We sat down for our welcome drink and lunch (some sort of tea). Lunch was amazing. A set meal of various Vietnamese dishes including stuffed crab and white fish fillet. The food was perfect, I'd probably even call it gourmet! Drinks are excluded but to be fair, it's pretty good value.

After lunch we headed out on our little boat to the Cave of Amazement (translation) which was on one of the little islands. We walked into it and out the other side, it has been completely fixed for safe passage of people through it but it was still absolutely stunning. It reminded me of the salt mines a bit, it was huge but obviously much more impressive considering it was created by nature. Some of the views from the hills walking up to the cave were stunning, over all the rock formations of Halong Bay. Words cannot describe it!

When we got back to the big boat, we showered and were given the option of either staying on the boat and swimming in the sea or going to another island, looking around and swimming there. Our guide, Tom (it's his nickname apparently), said we could jump off the roof terrace into the water and that swung most peoples choices to staying on the boat! Most people jumped in from the top, including Laura! I got all of them jumping in on film and then jumped in afterwards. I landed arse first, which really, really hurt. It caused much amusement to everyone in the water though! After the first round of jumping we were told we weren't allowed to jump off the top, but the 2nd floor only. I don't think they were too concerned about our safety, merely they didn't want water in the restaurant! Nevermind, we all took great delight in being able to jump from such a height - I jumped 2 more times, both much much better (feet first!!) My arse is still sore now from the first jump!

It was hilarious, whilst we were swimming a woman was in a small wooden boat trying to sell us drinks. It's obviously her way of life but it was so bizarre! We could hear her from our cabin before we went swimming, trying to sell stuff to people on the roof terrace - you had to go to the bottom to get it though so I can see why many didn't take them up on the offer. I might buy some beers if I see her tomorrow - they must be cheaper than on the boat!

We had a bit a free time to lounge and sunbathe, watching the sun go down before our cooking class (learning how to make spring rolls) and tea. Dinner again, was absolutely amazing. Squid (which wasn't brilliantly cooked to be fair) and BBQ Prawn skewers which even Laura ate, as well as this amazing pork in coconut sauce. We had fruit for desert too and I tried dragon fruit for the first time in my life - amazing!

That evening we attempted to go squid fishing - I didn't stay around for all of it, it was quite boring - but some people managed to catch... a crab! Nevermind!

We've met some pretty awesome people here on this trip too. We've made friends with a South African couple (Ulrike and Arno - spellings?!) as well as a Dutch couple (Ike and Saskia) who are staying the three days like us. All of them are very friendly and we've got on well with them! There are also two Irish blokes in our group who are very funny - they even got up late this morning and the bus had to wait for them! They are a good laugh though, been cracking lots of jokes about Birmingham - naturally! One of them wins the award for being the first person to "get" my Brummie t-shirt. One of them asked where I was from, the other said "Haven't you seen... he's a Bruuuuumie!" It was very funny! They admit that where they come from (Limerick) is a shit hole too though! I've enjoyed their company too!

All in all it's been an amazing day! I certainly won't forget it in a hurry! Tomorrow we are visiting a floating village and kayaking - hopefully some more swimming too!