15th January - Life on the Ocean Wave

Our early morning plan goes like clockwork, almost. R remembers at the last minute that we have left our sizeable collection of canned mixers in the fridge. We squeeze them into a carry on bag. Black tea and fresh omelettes set us up nicely. Outside it is a bit misty or maybe it is just extra pollution as the traffic has increased immensely now that we are back in the working week. Allegedly Ha Noi has 4,000,000 motorbikes and we see most of them this morning as the coach makes its way out the city.

We first head north, then east along well surfaced motorway standard roads. The city gives way to paddy fields with very sticky looking yellow soil. Dinh tells us about the very troubled history of Vietnam between 1945 and 1989, a period of constant conflict. At one point we pass a huge Samsung factory which proclaims itself the home of the Galaxy S8 phone. After a couple of hours we take a break at a place staffed largely by and run for the benefit of disabled people. This is a vast emporium selling all sorts of things including very welcome cups of tea.

The second half of the trip is along busy highways, through mainly built up areas. Apparently the only means local communities had of raising money was to sell plots of land on the roadside for people who wished to run a business or build a house. This led to intensive ribbon development along main roads and has now been banned by the central government. A single line railway runs alongside our route for much of the way but no trains are spotted. We pass through an area of large scale coal mining and start to see the limestone hills which are part of the unique landscape of Halong Bay.

As the sun breaks through we debus at a quayside thronged with other tour parties. The drill is that all of the bags are taken off the coach, we claim the ones that we need for the next two days and the ones left get loaded back in the luggage compartment. We grab our carry on bags and find a corner to apply sunscreen. We are then called forward to board a small tender which is to take us out to the 'Victory Star' cruise boat which will be our home for the next two days.

We are told that we have been upgraded to a boat with better cabins than the brochure promised. Certainly we are happy with our cabin, which has a good sized bathroom and a small external balcony. We drop our bags and head up to lunch. There is a full bar with prices that are ritzy by local standards but just about bearable. Lunch is plentiful including delicious spring rolls and lots of seafood. The boat is on the move through the spectacular scenery of the bay, threading its way between the towering limestone pinnacles. The sea is absolutely dead calm much to R's relief.

After lunch we are summoned to assemble for a sampan ride. This involves a short trip on the tender to a floating platform where we are allocated four at a time to a sampan. These have mainly lady rowers who stand at the rear of the boat wielding long oars for propelling and manoeuvring the boat. The ride takes us on a circuit around on of the bigger islets and through a floating village. We see some of the local fishing boats all decked out with spotlights that are used to attract squid to the surface at night. After an hour or so we are back at our start point for the transfer to the Victory Star. When we get back to the cruiser our large suitcase is sitting at reception. Strange

There is nothing scheduled for a couple of hours and the gloom has descended so we take a snooze. The alarm is set for 6 pm so we don't miss the cookery class.  The young man leading it has excellent English and shows us how to make a basic spring roll that can be eaten without cooking as well as a delicious dipping sauce to go with it. At the end of the demonstration we are invited to have a go and D does just that. The trick is to get the circle of rice paper sufficiently damp so that it can be rolled without cracking. D pronounces the finished article delicious. One of our party is unhappy because her large blue suitcase has not arrived on board. She is not mollified when we tell her that ours has arrived unbidden. 

Dinner is served after the lights have been dimmed. The food is beautifully presented and tastes good as well. We normally lose a bit of weight on our travels but this time it seems unlikely.  By 9.30 we can barely keep our eyes open and turn in for an early night.