Just want to say a quick thanks to Mum and Glynn for paying for some accommodation for us.
we got up for an early breakfast and checked out to make the short walk down the street to the Tamarind Cafe where we were picked up by the bus which would take us the 3 1/2 hours to Haiphong Bay in Ha Long. We stopped off at a craft centre for disabled people along the way which was full of arts and crafty things as well as some pretty impressive marble sculptures, it was a bit weird that they used photos of the people who had bought marble sculptures and then posted their full names, address details and email addresses!
Anyhoo we arrived at the dock reception area where we first met Anh (pronounced like the Ein bit from Einstein) who was to become a real character during our trip.
On the boat there were 17 other people including a family of 6 from New Zealand, a couple of American couples, a German couple, an English couple and an Australian woman travelling solo who lived in Panama and was on her way to teach Physiotherapy in Cambodia and was travelling a bit first.
The boat is very impressive, we were a little surprised as it was white and not the lovely brown wood colour as shown on the website but apparently the Viet government decided to make all the boat companies paint all the tour boats white after it was made a Unesco World Heritage Site, but its still impressive none the less.
The itinerary was quite full so it will be easier to split this blog over the three separate days.
Day one - after getting onto the boat there were some formalities to deal with like life jacket locations etc and there was a little bit of a 'my name is phill and I do this for a living and live here' it was one of those cringes motivational speaker type things but luckily this was the first and last. Anh is our group leader for the trip, he's only about 24 but his English is superb and he is the first Vietnamese to actually get humour and be able to tell jokes and use innuendo.
First thing is lunch and we are fed really well over the whole three days with the food being way better than average which is what we were expecting on a boat. We get some greens, prawn spring rolls, sticky rice and chicken.
The we get off the boat and go to a little beach where we can get some sun, and played some footie, it started off as a kick about between me and three of the Viet crew, 2 a side and it turned out my partner was the captain. But then it quickly became 6 a side Vietnam v Rest of the world. It was very clear to see just how much of an impact home advantage would have! You can't really pass you just literally belt the ball as hard as you can and run around after it, needless to say we got beat 7-6.
On the beach there are two guards who live there and look after an ancient cave, their dog had pups about three weeks earlier so there were about 7 tiny balls of fluff with legs to keep the ladies entertained.
I can hear any women reading this just went AAARRRRHHHHHH
Gem was too busy playing with her puppies and missed my goals and water based goal celebrations!
Tonight we were eating in the cave, so back on the boat there is time for a few cheeky beers before getting ready and heading back to the beach to climb the stairs to one of the most unique places we have ever eaten.
Tea tonight was a gourmet seafood BBQ that had pretty much everything on it!
It was brilliantly atmospheric and certainly something we will never forget, we polished off a bottle of fizz and a bottle of white wine before going back to the boat for a few cheeky wines and then to bed.
Location:Ha Long Bay
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