Halong Bay

Well after a horrible nites sleep well for me anyway, with strange noises that rudi said sounded like a dog vomiting and I thought it was an electric fan gone crazy, we were up bright and early. The room itself wasn’t too bad but the nite before also we had construction work 24hrs….they work hard in Vietnam! Anyway enough complaints about lack of sleep….who needs sleep on holidays anyway…ME! See I’m rambling coz I need sleep! Hehe! Anyway we got picked up from our hotel about 8:30 and boarded a mini van with 5 other people and we headed off to Halong Bay about 3 ½ hours away. I thought the driver was a very safe driver but the other Aussie couple not accustomed to Indian drivers freaked out when we were fairly close to a head on with a small truck and told the driver to cool it and slow down, which he very kindly did and it turned into a very slow but very safe drive! We boarded our boat a smallish boat with only 4 rooms so 8 guests in total and just as many crew members which we all met once on board with a clapping parade and a speech in Vietnamese from the captain which we clapped after…probably told us we were all going to sink like the titanic and we cheered and clapped…idiots! Anyway we are on the Junk with 4 other Aussies, a youngish couple around our age from Melbourne, a older couple around mum and dads age so PRETTY OLD….from Canberra they are all lovely and two older men from the states who don’t say too much but are nice also! Once on board and introduced to everyone we got given our cabins and they are amazing. Small but beautiful with our own ensuite…nicest room we have had all trip. It is absolutely freezing but our room has a heater so it has been cranking all day! We went up on deck to take some photos and freeze then we were called back downstairs to lunch. Lunch was the biggest lunch I have ever eaten and Im glad I am feeling better because it was a lot of different foods. Sorry for the run down but just so u get an idea…..1st Sweet and sour seafood soup, 2nd Clams, 3rd Vietnamese chicken salad, 4th Prawns, 5th Oyster Cake, 6th Bassi? Fish and steamed rice, 7th Vegetables, 8th Fruit. Seriously was so much food and we ate it all! After that we got changed because we wanted to go for a kayak. We were a little scared it would be freezing but we put on our bathers with our rain jackets and we jumped in. Was actually not bad at all and we kayaked for about an hour through the amazing limestone karsts. Would be nicer with a blue sunny sky but still so beautiful. Rudi and I paddled into a small cave and then decided to try and turn around and got wedged….we made it out after changing our plan and back paddling! We came back and jumped in a very hot shower and then had a snooze in our room which was now a sauna. We woke just in time for dinner and joined the group in the dining room. Rudi didn’t get far into his meal before he felt sick so he hardly ate. I got about half way but had to stop because I was so full. Tonight in not so much detail, a lot of seafood, chicken, pork, vegetables, rice, fruit again. We went round the table discussing our favorite travel destinations, and where we would like to travel to next. Was interesting but Rudi and I are definitely the least traveled…we have some catching up to do! We talked to our tour guide for awhile whose name is Ha…Ha Ha Ha! that’s what he does to his own jokes….he laughs more than anyone else but he is lovely and it cracks me up to watch him laugh so much at himself! Anyway we have retired to bed early for us….well everyone else called it a night too. Rudi isn’t feeling great but hopefully not too sick and just ate too much different foods at once! Sleep time…need our energy for more kayaking tomorrow!