Halong bay, to the north east of hanoi, is purely majestic. A unesco world heritage listed site, the bay is filled with hundreds upon hundreds of limestone islands jutting up from clear blue water. The 'must do' on any trip to Hanoi, we found, is to jump a ride on a junk boat, sailing far into the bay and spending the evening over a cocktail watching the sun sink behind the islands before slinking off into your little cabin to be rocked to sleep by the waves. in our case, unfortunately, there wasn't much sun to speak of....in fact it is the first time since we left NZ that we have actually been cold (sorry to my dear friends in the UK....i'm afraid i couldnt resist the gloat!) but actually the fog and mist gave the bay a haunting beauty of its own. Hopping into kayaks on the first day we got down closer to the action - paddling gently (well, gently after matt had broken 2 oars by paddling not so gently...a very good way to piss off the kayaking powers-that-be we found...oops!) into a little section of the bay, surrounded by islands, greenery, monkeys....i felt like we could have been somewhere completely undiscovered. the silence was deafening.
Day 2 dawned with no electricity for a hot shower and an irrate vietnamese tour guide banging on our door demanding we show up for breakfast. oopps...in trouble again! but you take the good with the bad and really enjoyed our night floating on the seas. Our second evening was spent on Monkey island...we were the only group of people there, a deserted beach which just happened to sport lovely little bungalows and the best vietnamese food i've eaten yet. By this time we were tight with our fellow adventurers and we spent a very pleasant evening munching on vietnamese cuisine, chatting and sipping the odd vodka...in between shooing territorial monkeys from our front porch...
It was a relaxing few days away from the hussle and bussle that is hanoi....as we arrived back in the city the craziness of the place hit us again and we couldnt wait to get out....so we jumped straight on an overnight bus to Hue...
Overnight buses can be an oddity here in indochina....'sleeper buses', slightly more expensive than the normal version but infinitely more comfortable, contain rows and rows of bunkbeds....you literally can lay down almost horizontal and dream vividly of horns beeping and swerving motorbikes as you make your way down the country.
So we are now in Hue....a much more appealing city than Hanoi....with a peaceful river and tree lined streets. Tomorrow we are off to see some tombs which, hopefully won't be as depressing as it sounds, and tonight a few beers and some fresh spring rolls should see us through the night.
stay tuned. xxx
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