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Saturday 17th November
Our tour guide arrived this morning on time, checked our names against her booking sheet, on which I happened to notice that the word 'Luxury' was missing from the boat name. They had us down for the less fancy sister boat which I immediately questioned. She played dumb, the guy that sold us the tickets was saying it's fine just go, which got my back up. Now I'm not known for having a larey streak ;) but they were starting to piss me off. Suzanne & I were like bulldogs & after 30 minutes of phone calls, arguments, name calling, all in front of an audience of fellow backpackers we agreed to board the bus with $50 per person refunded in cash & the promise of half price booze on the boat. Happy days.
3.5 hours after, we arrive at Ha Long Bay. It's simply spectacular, I have never seen a place quite like it! Over 3000 islands rising high out of the pond-like ocean, it's a 'see it to believe it' kind of place. We boarded our boat, one of over 300 virtually identical looking vessels - a government order means that all tourist boats are now painted white. It was actually very nice & we were feeling good about the refund situation because it made the trip much cheaper than everyone else had paid. We were also given the best rooms on the boat as a goodwill gesture & a very generous lunch.
We cruised through the islands following an endless string of mini cruise ships past fishing villages, caves & wondrous scenery to our first stop on the tour, a cave. It's Vietnamese name escapes me but it translates to 'Surprising Cave'. Spread over 3 main chambers, each bigger than the last, there were thousands of stalagtites, stalagmites, weird & wonderful rock formations & about 200 camera flashes at any one time. It was over-crowded but well worth seeing none the less. When we returned to the boat the sun was setting so we got some great pictures & went for dinner. The food was faultless yet again & more than we could eat. Several beers went down far too easily under the star spangled night sky, the conversation with a few other travellers flowed nicely, a drinking game or two & finally sleep.
Sunday 18th November
We woke early for breakfast, checked out of our rooms & were asked to settle our bar tab. It came to $36 which wasn't a ridiculous amount to be fair but I still asked the tour guide to come sort our 50% discount we agreed the previous morning. Things got seriously ugly when she denied all knowledge of the conversation & refused to reduce the bill. It ended up with Brett, Suzanne & I yelling at this little liar until our transfer arrived. As we stepped off the boat (against her will) we handed half the value of the bill to the boat manager & left. She said that she was going to call the police, we said go ahead & left for our day on Cat Ba Island! Serious drama for what should be a romantic & relaxing break away from the usual darting about here, there & everywhere.
We docked at Cat Ba Island for a 6km cycle ride & short trek through the jungle which definitely beat any cycle track route back home hands down. It was stunning. A couple hours later we were back on the boat headed for tonight's accommodation.
I almost went into shock when I first saw the beach bungalows that we were staying in! A beautiful sheltered cove, very similar in appearance to the beach in the film 'The Beach'. The rooms are very tidy & the lunch we were served was ace too. We took kayaks to some nearby beaches just for a look around & then played some football on the beach at our resort before getting ready for our BBQ buffet dinner. The food was pretty good, by the end of it we were in food comas so sat back on our balcony & watched some Family Guy before getting an early night, half wondering if the police will be waiting for us on our return to Ha Long City. Fingers crossed she was bluffing!!
Monday 19th November
This morning we had an early breakfast & then a transfer back to the 'Luxury Imperial', the boat we originally booked onto! It was a very drizzly morning but it just added to the atmosphere of the bay, almost Jurassic Park-esque. The boat wasn't really any different to the one we stayed on 2 nights before so that gave us a lot of satisfaction!
We had a quick lesson in spring roll making, then made one each while the staff fried them up for us to eat. Yummy! Shortly after, another enormous buffet spread was served up but the food wasn't a patch on the other boat. I think someone was smiling down on us from the time we arrived in Hanoi because the c*** up the tour operator made, worked in our favour in every sense!
We left the boat at 12.30 following further discussions with the staff about the 50% discounted bar bill but luckily it was only our bus that greeted us at the port, not the police. Phew!!! 4 hours later we were back in Hanoi, found a hostel, skyped my parents, auntie & nephew briefly before heading out for our last supper with Brett & Suzanne in Vietnam. Our flights are booked to Bangkok for tomorrow & B&S head to Cambodia. We're fairly sure that we will see them in Thailand before they head back to blighty.
Hope everyone is well back home and its not too cold :) x x x
Modes of Transport so far - 2 planes, 1 Taxi, 9 Tuk Tuks, 3 VIP Bus, 2 shared taxis, 5 minivans, 2 speed boat, 2 slow boats, 3 ferries, 2 pickup trucks, 5 sleeper bus, 1 kayak, 1 moto
Countries Visited - Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam
Beers Sampled - Chang, Tiger, Leo, BeerLao, Namkhong, Angkor, Anchor, Klang, Green Saigon, Red Saigon, 333, Larue, Caroune, Hanoi
Miles Travelled - 10,209
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