Tuesday 15th October - Hanoi

Another ************* the train as it got back to Hanoi at about 5 am & at about 4.30 the PA system started with martial music & promotional material in Vietnamese & English all a t full blast in the corridor just outside our compartment.
We were met at the station by a hotel person & were put in a cab to the hotel where the night porter was sleeping on a couch in the vestibule. After drinks & breakfast we sat around
until about 8.15 when we were picked up in a minibus for the ride to Ha Long Bay. The ride was little less than hair raising but was also fascinating.
Leaving Hanoi with its extensive suburbs & huge factories lining the route we passed miles of flat rice fields. In some harvesting was taking place with miniature harvesters about 6m
by 3m with 2 operators but we were too far away to see the process in detail. After the initial dual carriage way the road reverted to a single lane each way which carried motor bikes on the inner part lane & buses trucks & cars on the rest. Overtaking can be done on either side of the vehicle in front & is undertaken when there isn't an oncoming truck or bus. Oncoming motorbikes & scooters have to give way to opposing traffic & amazingly seem to accept their lower status.
After 1 hour our minibus deviated to take us to a huge trading complex dominated by statues of various sizes & designs in a building about the size of a large aircraft hanger. The point was for us to traverse the building so thet we could rejoin the coach in 20 mins. In the vast barn we were met by rows of girls sitting embroidering pictures for sale, by hand. Most were rather ordinary but a few were very well done although the subjects were mostly disappointing. Having passed through this part we moved through a room full of statues & carvings, the effects of which were somewhat overwhelming. Moving on we were faced with jewellery of gold, pearls & precious stones. Finally we were into heavy, Chinese furniture before we found a cafe & the exit to the toilets & the pick-up point. All in all, not a
pleasant experience but one to be endured.
If that was hard to take the next 2 hours were worse as a lot of the road was being worked on & the towns that we passed through were scruffy but obviously reasonably prosperous with an amazing range of housing & shops many unfinished all along the route. When we eventually arrived at the terminal we had driven through a massive development of hotels & condominiums for about 5k. The mock classical terminal building leads out on to the waterfront where the tour boats pick up their passengers. We were then taken to our
triple-decker boat, tied up further down the harbour & went to our cabin before going up for lunch on the upper deck.
The wooden boat, similar to a large junk carried about 50 passengers & was full. After lunch the "Butler" told us that we couldn’t leave the harbour as the Harbourmaster had forbidden it due to anticipated severe weather. So, off we went back to our cabins & waited. At 3pm we were recalled to the dining room to be told that the tour had been cancelled & that we would all have to leave the ship & return to Hanoi. After a series of phone calls we were back in the minibus & after more delay we started the whole journey in reverse only this time in darkness with a driver very to get home.

Eventually we arrived back at the hotel where after profuse apologies we were moved on to another hotel around the corner & then had a very ordinary dinner & went to bed at about 10.30.