A few days away from the crowds

We didn't do much on Monday other than go to the Cambodian Embassy to get some visas rather than waiting to get them at the border crossing where we're more at the mercy of whoever is on patrol that day.

We carefully deliberated and decided that we would not be taking a trip with our hostel, so we went in search of a travel agent to sort a trip to Halong Bay. There are tens of travel agents so we went with one recommended by Lonely Planet. They also offered us a room above their shop for the 3 nights we have in Hanoi on our return, for $10 a night.

On Tuesday we were picked up at 8am to set off for Halong Bay. Halong Bay has more than 3000 islands rising from the Gulf of Tonkin; it's one of Vietnam's natural marvels. Ha Long means 'where the dragon descends into the sea' according to a legend involving a dragon that lived in the mountains (and I'm assuming descended into the sea).

Our group consisted of a Malaysian guy and 2 Australian couples; Ching Tut, Buster and George (female) and Hamish and Maggie respectively plus our guide, Hien.

We boarded the boat and sailed around; it was slightly misty but that actually created a really lovely layer effect on the islands in the distance. Again, the photos we took are ok but don't quite do it justice.

On these waters live lots of fishing families; fishermen catch fish and a lot of the houses, built on the water have little fish farms; buyers from Halong City come to buy their fish and that's how the fishermen make their money. It's a very basic existence and according to our guide many families aren't very aware of what goes on in the outside world. Although the government now pay for their children to go to boarding school to get an education so how long these fishing villages will last, I'm not sure.

We stopped at one such fishing village on the water, which hired out kayaks and we paired up and went kayaking; a first for me. I was a little apprehensive, however Matt informed me that he was a competent member of his school's canoe polo team so I needn't worry. It was actually fine; the water was fairly calm and we spent about an hour exploring the grottoes and so on.

We spent the night on the boat and on Wednesday we went to one of the larger islands and trekked through some jungle areas; it was a little steep and hair raising at times; more so than the Great Wall walk in fact. In the afternoon we boarded another boat, a junk, had lunch and were taken to a 'beach'. Matt and I decided to chill out on the boat while the Aussies consumed lots of Tiger Beer and Sapa cigarettes and spent the afternoon jumping off it.

We actually chatted to our guide quite a bit about various things including the war and eating cats and dogs. The Vietnamese refer to the war as 'the American War'. He was very philosophical about it although many war veterans apparently hold different opinions; both his father and uncle had fought and survived. The Americans used a biological weapon called Agent Orange which had various affects including infertility and actually, worse, when children were born to parents who had been exposed, they often had terrible defects. In fact, we bought an English language Vietnamese paper and there is a relief fund to help victims who have suffered the consequences of this. It was interesting talking to him.

Dog and cat is widely eaten in Vietnam, they are rarely seen as pets, only perhaps some toy dogs are kept as pets. Dogs are protectors, cats catch mice and they're both eaten. Although many Vietnamese see it as unlucky to eat cat or dog during the first half of the lunar month. I think us westerners have a tough time coming to terms with this but I guess they're just viewed the same as we view cows and sheep. What I don't really agree with are the gratuitous (tourist) nights out you can go on to see a whole dog skinned and spit roasted, as well as seeing a live snake killed, skinned and cooked for tourists trying to prove their bravado, to eat. I can accept that a country eats these things but not sure the 'shows' in front of drink-fuelled westerners are totally necessary. (There I go on my high horse again....!)

Anyway, we were taken to Cat Ba Island, the only populated island in Halong Bay where we spent the night in a hotel. Today we were taken back to Hanoi, which took most of the day. A very pleasant couple of days all in all.