| Ha Long Bay always has many exciting things make | | | | We toured the bay and slept one night on a "luxury" |
| author amazing. | | | | (note: all terms have become relative)junk. The food |
| | | | was amazing, especially considering the circumstances |
| Kayaking in Ha Long bay, vietnam | | | | under which they had to prepare it (I try to avoid |
| We took an amazing 2 day trip east to Ha Long Bay, | | | | thinking about this in too much detail). |
| just near Haiphong - this is a wonderful archipelligo in | | | | However, the crew were amazing, we chatted to one |
| the South China Sea and consists of literally thousands | | | | lad and heard that the crew work from 0530 through |
| of small islands, all very tall and rocky, mostly well | | | | to midnight, 26 days a month, covering every job - |
| covered in vegetation. Unfortunately, at this time of the | | | | barman/cabin boy/cook and have to sleep on the |
| year it is quite misty but was still stunning - it is where | | | | deck! He was 22 and a great guy to chat to so gave |
| they filmed Scaramanger's island in James Bond (and | | | | him a tip of 100,000 Dong = day and half wages for |
| probably no end of other famous scenes too). | | | | him (sounds huge but equates to 4 pounds) - very |
| The Bay is a three hour mini bus trip, so we saw a | | | | strange to get our heads round. |
| number of new contenders for the "strangest moped | | | | At one point we kayaked to a nearby beach but that |
| cargo award". Runner up in the livestock category, to | | | | turned out to harder work than I expected so we |
| date, is massive basket full of live chickens, but the first | | | | headed back to the junk for a beer (yes I have had to |
| prize must go to two huge fully grown, live pigs, | | | | convert to beer because they don't have local wine |
| strapped on their backs onto the pillion seat. | | | | and the imported stuff is a horrendous price). |