Halong Bay - December 15th

More than two weeks of Vietnamese food has given me no problems but one night on beer and Pringles has left me with bad indigestion.  Or possibly the very early start at Hanoi station (before 6am), where we transfer to a bus and onto the hotel where we will stay tomorrow night.  Here we can leave our bags, have some food and freshen up, before we get back on the bus for the trip to Halong Bay.  It was a bit of a struggle as we were all pretty tired from the not great sleep we got on the train.  Also our guide stopped us for tea at a factory for disabled people that makes all sorts of gifts so the girls went a bit mad.

Eventually we got to Halong Bay, which they are not slow in telling you is now one of the 7 natural wonders of the world.  While this might be true, I have to say the validity of this claim has been diluted when you see the other winners all come from countries with big internet populations and even here there are still posters telling everyone to vote for Halong Bay.

Nevertheless it might be spectacular if we could see it.  Unfortunately this is yet another cloudy day so all we can see are the outlines of the islands.  Still I think it gives us more time to appreciate the comfort of our boat which has very good en suite cabins and an excellent dining room, with space for just the 18 of us.

As a cruise we do eventually get closer to some of the more spectacular islands, and we even go ashore on one to look at it and the caves it contains.  Unlike other limestone caves I’ve been in this one is bone dry, and I have to say not too exciting.  It is big, and packed, as for the first time we encounter India like crowds of tourists, some of whom are from over the border in China.  After the caves there are opportunities to kayak and swim, but given the weather and my dodgy stomach, I decline and wait for the dinner which we see being purchased from the local fishermen and strange floating shops (and even one floating bank) which are dotted around the bay.