A murky early day we set off for Halong Bay, a four hour minibus taking the accrued cabin guests to the harbour ready to board the junk boat. The dock was alive with activity, weaving our way through to a small boat that took us out to our floating home for the next twenty four hours. After a brief explanation of the trip we were assigned our cabins and set off toward the rocks hidden amongst the mist in the distance.
After a hearty lunch we arrived in a cove of sorts, where that night i counted around 18 other junks - gives you an idea of how busy this place is.. One lady rowing between each offering snacks and beer tirelessly. We set out on a smaller boat and went to visit Sung Sot or Surprising Cave as it's known to tourists. A vast complex with three main chambers, quite beautiful in places but due to the number of tourists there, the set walkways and somewhat bizarre lighting it was better for views of the islets. Also i swear it looked like the ceiling had been plastered.. Very strange.
We got to have a paddle round in kayaks afterward, two man open tops.. We headed toward a small floating village then round a few more rocks and then tried to get some pictures of sea-eagles swooping in for lunch. That night was another massive meal followed by squid fishing and karaoke, neither a great success but entertaining at least.
Next morning we'd set off back toward the harbour, passing another floating fishing village on the way.
We had a cooking lesson, well, learnt to make a spring roll.. Then before long we were off back to Hanoi. It was pretty misty apart from a few glimpses of sunlight though this didn't really spoil it at all, if anything added to the air of the place..
Once back we had a day to waste before getting on another train this time back down toward Da Nang, to stay in Hoi An 30km away..
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