The view from the dining area
It was a 3 hour journey. The tour company maximised the minibus capacity. The side aisle had foldable seats which was fully occupied. Basically the people at the back of the bus (like us) cannot descend from the bus unless the people in front do so first. I dare not imagine what would happen to us if our bus had met an accident.
After 3 weary hours, we finally arrived. One of the junk boats is ours. Definitely not star cruise standard but it was still pretty comfortable.
The room. Its a little small, but hey, many people in hong kong live in rooms of this size all their lives. (More updates on my Hong Kong trip soon =))
Halong Bay was breathtaking. The bay was filled with rock formations at every corner. It was as if a giant took some rocks and just randomly threw them across the bay.
Floating houses
We visited a cave. It was not as huge and beautiful as the Mulu caves but it was still pretty exciting.
The tour guide pointed to that glowing red stalamite and said, "this is why our Vietnamese population is so huge"
Our two new friends - Luca and Alvaro
We went kayaking as well.
Out of the blue, this local guy decided to challenge Foong to a friendly arm wrestling match. Heh, that was pretty random
I fished from the deck.
We caught a huge fish! Kidding, we didnt. I think the fish didnt like my bait. I tried fishing the entire night. THe next morning, I pulled up my line and the bait was still hooked on.
We spent most of our time lazing on the deck. Blissfully happy.
THat night, we lay on the deck chairs talking. The night was calm with a single star in the sky. Our two new friends were there as well. I always love talking to new people because people outside your circle always shade new perspective on life. Our topics ranged from philosophy to religion to love to life principles. They told me about their respective cultures, his partner whom he dated for 8 years, the woman he loves but cannot have, their Roman Catholic upbringing etc. I finally fell asleep on the deck, zipped up in my down feather sleeping bag.
The next day, we headed back to Hanoi. We arrived at 5 pm, took a quick shower in the bathroom located at the hotel lobby. Freshening up in the hotel lobby in front of passerbys is a new experience for me.
We then quickly scouted the Old Quarter streets for food before catching our night train to Sapa.
They even serve chinese donuts. Except that its not with congee or bak kut teh.
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