HaLong Bay

Our first attempt to travel down to HaLong Bay with Margaret & Lloyd was re-booked due to poor weather. The second attempt saw us travel in a mini-bus for 3 -4 hours to HaLong on what turned out to be a lovely sunny day only for the trip to be cancelled due to high winds. We were then 'treated' to lunch which turned out to be one of the worst meals we've had in Vietnam, so David & Lloyd decided to have a couple of beers to mask the dissapointment. About an hour and a half into the journey on the way back the bus had to stop for an unscheduled wee break.
Sadly Margaret & Lloyd left for home on the day we had rescheduled our third attempt to enjoy HaLong Bay - since a boat sank in HaLong Bay a short while ago, the port authority has been cancelling trips out at the slightest hint of poor weather conditions.
So was it to be third time lucky for us?
Thankfully it was.
This meant another 3 - 4 hour trip down to the bay, but we had a green light to go on the boat. It was cold, but it was neither raining nor windy.
The boat we were on was The Red Dragon and designed to carry 11 passengers, but there were only 7 of us on the boat for the overnight boat-trip.
In the afternoon we completed a first - kayaking - and HaLong Bay is certainly a great place to start, although there were a few coordination issues between the both of us as we went around some of the islands in the bay. As the water was pretty cold, it was great that we didn't flip over in the boat and when we returned to shore we walked up the island into a cave that had been previously used by the local fishermen.

Talking of local fishermen, when we were back on the boat, in the fading light there was a small boat casting nets out to sea and then following the net around drumming above the water and then cracking a whip to try and get the fish into the net. In the evening, the 7 of us sat down to several courses, sitting inside, looking at the lights of a couple of other boats moored in the same harbour as us overnight.
The following morning after a short breakfast we went to visit a couple of floating fishing villages - rowed by a local village lady. During this short trip we visited a school, saw pearl harvesting for oysters and passed on the opportunity to row back to the ship.



After brunch the captain of our boat (who looked far too young to have the ten years experience we were informed he had) took us back to shore on the life boat, we then bid our farewell to our fellow passengers, and took the 3 to 4 hour journey back to Hanoi.

That update to follow soon...