So after a couple of crazy days in Hanoi, meeting some very cool people, playing pool on the worlds worst pool table, dancing with mike(from the usa) and sam (from australia) till four in the morning, watching mike entertain a vietnamise birthday party with nothing more than a bar tray, and leaving wiggles to his own crazy drunken ways, we left Hanoi and headed for Halong bay and cat ba island.
Sorry we didnt free style it we booked a tour, bit of a cop out but well worth the money. Pick up from the hostel at eight, no probs, three hour bus ride, no probs, tour guide walking off for five minutes with our passports, mager panic, clearly we had been set up, he was robbing our passports and ditching us at the harbour, oh no he was just getting the tickets.
That was the last stress for the next three days, we boarded a boat with sixteen other people and set off for the bay and cat ba, its hard to express what halong is like, the limestone juting out of the sea is exactly like all the pictures you've seen, but at the same time completly different??The place becomes truly speacial when you get away from the hustle and bustle of the harbour and find you're self chugging along in a world of youre own. After lunch we were taken to some caves that were discovered by a fisherman chasing a monkey in to a hole, they were nice, but....well Halong's not known for its caves so much, we reboarded and headed off to a spot to try sea kayaking, just enough time for a spot of sunbathing and getting to know some of our fellow passengers.
We arrived at a floating pontoon where our health and safty were paramount, issued with ill fitting life vests, we were showed to our kayaks, given paddles and told be back in an hour!
Paddleing ungiuded was loads of fun watching everyone else follow the first ungiuged boat we went the opposite way a discovered several small sea caves with starfish and giant jellyfish, after our alloted hour we returned to the mother ship for a meal, drinks and an evening of uno. We thought we'd pulled a fast one when we were given one of the largest cabins at the back of the boat, untill the engine started at seven, that was better than any alarm clock i've ever used!! Breakfast and on to Cat ba, poor hev missed breakie after developing a very similar afliction to the one i'd suffered with in India, my heart went out to her, the one place she was realy excited about seeing and she was missing it!
Cat ba island is home to the golden langar, in fact its the only place on the planet you can see these like punk rocker monkeys, although we were unable to go on the two hour guided trek up the mountain, we still got a kick ass picture of this monkey, no one off the tour got such a good snap, how we did this will remain a secret that i will take to my grave.
We expected the tour to come apart at the seams at any moment as we had paid so little, then we were taken to the hotel on Cat ba! It was a fantastic three star hotel with friendly staff, good food and free vodka 7up from 9-10 what more could anyone want?? You're wife not to be suffering as you had! We managed to leave the hotel, which shows hevs way harder than i am! After a fifteen minute walk we found a private beach, no one but us on it, sweet!!
The afternoon and evening driffted away in sunbathing and drinking mixed in with another free meal. The next day after breakfast we did the reverse journey, missing monkey hole, we returned to Halong harbour for our last meal before being boarded on to the bus for the three hour drive back to our hotel, AST tour, the best fifty dollars i ever spent!!