Halong Bay

We enjoyed a big breakfast today at about 8, it consisted of a Vietnamese dish which was a rice noodle soup with chicken followed by a more western egg on toast. Shortly after breakfast we were picked up by a few small wooden boats from the local fishing village. The skillful oars women took us into a small bay area where Bec and I both had a go at rowing the boat, it was fairly hard to control but I got the hang of it fairly quickly and Bec was quite impressed as she could only manage to make it spin in a circle! Ok its Bec here now Rudi ran out of writing power and I generally ramble on a bit quicker! So after I did a few burnouts and tricks in the boat that require more skill than rowing straight…just kidding it was very hard…. The fishermans wives took over again and rowed us to their floating village. There are about 35 families that live in this section of the bay all with floating houses and a school and a fish farm, we got to have a translated chat with a local fisherman in the schools classroom and more clapping to things we don’t know what they said. We then wandered around the fish farm and had a look in one of their houses. It was small but had a pretty big tv, massive speakers and a DVD player! Impressive! We donated a few packets of pencils from Australia we had left to the school and the women rowed us back to our Junk, We then had the chance to go kayaking again so Rudi and I were definitely in for that. We got to kayak into a couple of small caves which were pretty beautiful and fun to kayak in and try and get out again! We paddled for about an hour and it was in an open section of the bay so was a bit harder to paddle with a stronger current than yesterday! We made it back to the boat which had moved to a new spot where we were having lunch. We quickly got changed into some warmer clothes and then jumped on the small boat which took us to the beach where there was a table and chairs beautifully set up with an umbrella and the chefs cooked us a bbq on the beach! It was absolutely beautiful but a little cold! We were all rugged up in jackets and scarves and beanies! Lunch was huge again but delicious! We then went back to the boat and after consuming a few beers at lunch everyone headed to their cabins for a siesta! Rudi and I played some cards trying to stay awake but we gave in to and had a nap! We were planning on a quick jump into the cold water just coz we are here so why not but once the boat stopped again and we were lying in our bed with the heater going we decided otherwise! We had a chat with all the others while we waited for dinner and as always we ate a massive dinner! The only difference because it was our last night on the boat they had all these magnificently carved pumpkins and watermelon creations that came out lit up with tealights. First was a very detailed dragon out of a pumpkin that was amazing, then an eagle and last was our junk boat which was incredible! We enjoyed a lovely dinner and great conversations with everyone! Now back to bed in our sauna…its great!