Halong Bay - our last destination, and our group consisting now of us, Bob & Sheila, Bron and Adrian (Alien to his friends...). We went off for a two day, 1 night trip around Halong Bay - a UNESCO World Heritage site which Doug and I visited over 6 years ago and loved! It was great to be out on the water again and we had an almost luxurious cabin on a small boat (after a fight with the agents who booked us on a huge boat which we would have loathed). Things had sadly changed since we were last here; far too many tourist boats jostling for places to moor up at the famous caves and everywhere you looked, tourists. Yes yes, I know we are tourists too and everyone has to make a living but...... There were coke and souvenir stands on every corner of the steps up to the caves and someone had decided that illumination might be nice inside... Wrong, they looked totally artificial and a bit naff. Anyway, the others enjoyed it and we were grateful to have seen them in a far more "natural" state all those years ago. Having said all that, the scenery and islands were spectacular and once we got away from the crowds, the views were awesome.
Lots of seafood, but sadly we managed to drink the bar dry in just over a couple of hours after boarding - obviously they didn't have any idea how thirsty we would be, to run out of beer AND gin was unthinkable! There was only 6 in our party and 6 other Aussies (or maybe that was it, Aussies drink as much or more than us....). Smart move was to moor up by another boat and take on provisions, they are nothing if not resourceful! Lots of diving and jumping off the boat, keeping your mouth firmly closed (for a change) as did not want to swallow any of the water. All those boats have to offload stuff somewhere I guess, although it looked pretty clean???? A great way to end 5 weeks.
Back in Hanoi for some last minute shopping - Doug found a soap on TV to watch entitled "In the Salt Fields" which sort of put Eastenders and Neighbours in context for us! Our last evening together spent sitting on plastic children's chairs on a street corner drinking local beer and chatting, then off for the final final meal and saying goodbye to Bron and Adrian. Dreading the 30+ hour trip to get back to Bickington and the cold - reliably informed that the temperature is 30 degrees cooler where we are heading.....
Enjoyed both these trips and feel we have seen a good deal of South East Asia - not as "exciting" as some other trips but we met some great people and had a lot of laugh and I enlarged my knowledge of the world a little more - which is what it is all about I guess. Time to start planning the next trip - another wildlife one I think as we saw practically no birds on this trip and very few animals other than those destined for the dinner plate!
Sheila and I are off to Cape Town in January .... watch this space xxxx
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