Thailand ...

Heading off by bus early from Vang Vieng, we headed south to another tributary of the Mekong for some kayaking. The river, idle due to the lack of water, was fun to paddle down and as usual, the environment provided a beautiful backdrop. Finally approaching rapids, we got some action, but our skills just didn’t quite match up to the river and we found ourselves swimming for a while. The tour was one of the first extremely well organized and executed trips we had been on, and as we had bargained properly for once we got a good deal, 150,000 kip each for the whole day.
Leaving the river behind in a dusty pick up we headed to Vietiene which was as expected, pretty mundane and non descript, but a very good place to catch a bus to the Thai border. Leaving Laos took no time whatsoever, getting into Thailand, took a good hour in the sun, blazing away at what appeared to be close to 40 Celsius on my thermometer. The border appears to be very closely guarded by the Thai’s – I suspect it was due to the very lax nature of the Laos concerning drugs of all varieties. We even watched some Monks get searched as they crossed. As Tourists we just had to queue for what felt like forever.
On the otherside we paid a Tuk Tuk for a ride to the station which is probably not more than 10 minutes walk. They are extortionate, so if you are crossing at that border ever, take a walk, it really isn’t far!
The train to Bangkok was superb, the individual seats prepared by the guard and with the AC on it was a really good night’s sleep. The boys headed off to the airport for a flight to Koh Samui and onto Koh Toa shortly after, Jen and I took ourselves to a roof top hotel swimming pool and took it easy for the day- the relative luxury of two Jacuzzis and a nice large pool couldn’t really be beaten we though! Heading back to the train station we had a great ride with a souped up tuk tuk and very chatty driver. He kept his head well down at the lights near some police who decided he might be a little dodgy and came to check him out. Having taken his license away and quizzically examined the photo, the lights, luckily for our driver turned green and he roared away… an got us to the train station in good time to catch another train down to Chumpon where our train was met by a bus to the ferry. We arrived at the same time as the boys in Koh Tao and had spent a lot less getting there! www.seat61.com has some pretty decent information that helped us out – as did the thai online booking service.
The ferry ride was somewhat amusing, the skipper didn’t really seem to know his route too well and did a few 360 turns and course corrections, partially we thought to avoid the reefs, but quite obviously more often as he’d lost his way- 2 hours trip took 3. Enroute we chatted to a sales chap who offered us a what sounded like a good deal on diving – Padi/SSI and with a few others took us to a resort. We weren’t totally convinced by the arrangements, and then bumped into the others who were being offered a cheaper offer which we jumped on straight away! Steer clear of booking them online and ahead of time had been the advice of two Israeli girls we’d met in Kunming, and we’d definitely agree! We saved at least 2000 Baht paying for accommodation and certification 8500 baht..
Diving was amazing and getting a qualification SSI not PADI at the end was rewarding, Koh Toa is perhaps one of the cheapest places in the world to do it. Koh Lanta is double the price for the dives. Taking into consideration the distance to the reefs and dive sites this is not entirely surprising. O-Lee got us to Koh Lanta which is where we are currently chilling out, staying in basic beach huts for 375 baht a night! Lanta LD Beach huts… but get ready to bargain they start at 500! Life is a Beach innit?

a little extra from Laos..

More Vang Vienne…
So it turns out this isn’t just a place for debauchery and unbridled hedonism. Take your feet or rent a bike for all of thirty or fourty KIP and go explore. Its what we had to do, having spent a day milling around in various bars and dancing, a day actually on the river and well, it was high time for some exercise. The area lends itself to exploration- cycling and walking and for those with nerves and muscles of steel climbing.With breathtaking routes along rivers and through local jungle, in the dry season it’s also pretty much bug free and very pleasant. We headed off to see a cave on some bikes and then went off along dust tracks to see small surrounding villages and communities. Unlike Vietnam and Thailand, the kids here actually go to school and the tourist trails of dollar bills haven’t lured them out into begging, however there is still a long way to go for them to ensure they avoid the trap of easy dollars and forego their culture and conserve their greatest assets; their smiles and the environment. We stopped for lunch and met a very interesting chap who had returned from a reasonably comfortable life in Canada. He had pretty decent English and we had the chance to finally find out a little more.
For a communist country the state interferes very little. The villages are largely all self governing and have to just pay rent on the land that is used, which means that villages are also allowed to sell the land to individuals on what sounded like a freehold basis which was very different to China… perhaps the result of IMF and World Bank development lending? The land he bought wasn’t far away from the village of Vang Vienne and he had some interesting plans. He felt the local communities would be able to help themselves better with English language skills, and he was building a community centre out of clay bricks where he could teach, it could be taught. Sadly none of the adults were coming for tuition so he was providing free tuition to children instead, using a white board in an open class room in the most scenic class room I have ever seen! I was very impressed with his plans, we spoke for a while. He had hoped for some outside help from gap year students and tourists but sadly with the little information in the village it wasn’t really forthcoming. We thought he was on the right track as he could do a lot more for the local area in the long term. So… if anyone is interested in helping him out.. perhaps as a volunteer or guidance in the UK or onsite let us know… or email him directly on bobfrich@hotmail.com, his name is Sengkeo Frichitthavong (Bob). We did not offer to help him with money but I think he’d be greatful for donations to help build the centre as he needs labour and concrete. Anyone need/want a project?
Our next moves are to head to Vietiene by kayak and bus, then cross the border to Thailand and catch a night train to Bangkok. (MT)

China to Laos and more

Kunming to Luang Prabang
Kunming is a regional hub in SouthEast China north of the Laos border. We landed at the airport which was clean efficient and much more than we’d expected. We asked for the bus station and were repeatedly told to get a Taxi by a very helpful Tourist helpdesk. Of course that was ignored and to the chagrin of some we walked into the unknown to find the bus stop which was of course just outside the airport- why would it not be? The bus ride was ridiculously cheap at 2 Yuan for the whole ride and we saw a little of the city before arriving at a very substantial pedestrianised area and our hostel.


After checking in we relaxed on the roof terrace and caught up with sleep before going for a wander. This city was not a tourist destination; so it was great to get a little taste of what a fairly rich Chinese city outside of Beijing was like. Our tickets for the bus arrived a little later for our trip to Laos, apparently the was a 14 hour bus ride, having looked at the map we thought the bus might be able to fly, or perhaps Laos was very flat with wide motorways?
The two days in Kunming was relaxing and it felt like spring having been in icy Beijing. Now for the bus ride ahead of us. We found our bus station with ease and with a little help boarded our full and interesting bus, with time to spare we had a quick look around for snacks and drinks. The bus station was full of vendors and the toilets were somewhat special. Open plan both in drainage and facilities, with enough more flies than people.
Our pleasure to ride a new variety of sleeper bus! The Laos variety; we were once more placed in the very back of the bus, this time on the bottom bunks, meaning sitting up was impossible for the trip and lying down was not feasible either as the bunks were around 1m too short. The trip promised to be painful
As the trip went on through the night the Chinese ignored the non smoking signs and while we could open our windows it was disgusting. The smell of 30 odd bodies in the bus made for an interesting smell as did the various snacks and drinks they were eating. Intermittent stops through the night made space for some of the bus passengers to light their Opium pipes and purge themselves. Hacking and spitting was common place throughout the night. Eventually we found ourselves at the Chinese border for around 7am. The border was to open at 8:30 so we waited outside and watched the ceremonial border opening. The border crossing was somewhat surreal. On the Chinese side it was very well manicured and groomed, the houses in pretty much impeccable condition, the Laos side, near the village of Borten was jungle and huts.
The border crossing behind us – or so we thought and onwards ho! Not so fast!!! The village ofBorten had a secondary control space and our bus was subject to a 4 hour inspection and wait as the Chinese goods in the bus as well as their luggage was checked and scrutinized. Borten is pretty small and I don’t advise booking a trip there
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The bus journey from here on in was hair raising in parts and simply put: Stunning. Sheer drops, river valleys carving their way through them, jungle vegetation lining the drop offs from the roads and the picturesque huts in the perched precariously on the slopes. Pot belly pigs, chickens and ducks, small children and threshing were all on the road making the bus ride very slow- in addition to the very steep roads and tight bends. The bus ride was amazing, despite our horizontal positions and very sweaty bus colleagues.
Arriving at 9 pm to Luang Prabang we treated ourselves to a large Beer Laos which seems to have alternate strengths depending on the bottles. Then we wandered around to find accommodation and food. We found some very reasonable accommodation with a shared shower for 80, 000 KIP per night which was very comfy while others decided to take the first best offer and paid more. MT

Luang Prabang 9th – 12th Feb
After a horrendously character building bus trip from China, arrival into Luang Prabang was like discovering that you do actually have a tub of Haagen Dazs hidden in the freezer after all. The boys wanted to get straight on a bus to Vang Vieng the next day, however Mark and I decided we wanted to spend some time in this gorgeous town. By far my favourite place in Asia so far (big statement, I know), I will try to summarise the reasons why:
• Stunning location set in tropical jungle clad hills and rocky outcrops
• Compact town with a mixture of beautiful old French colonial buildings and local bamboo huts
• The hidden idyllic temples throughout the town often surrounded by tropical flowers around every corner justify its place as a World heritage site
• The Mekong tributary is clean and full of local children playing in the rapids
• Coffee shops with cakes, pastries and coffee so good they make their Parisian culinary counterparts look like amateurs
• Street stalls selling all kinds of yummy food from sweet potato, BBQ fish, local spiced dishes and even baguettes stuffed with Nutella, about 50p for a meal
• Perfect balmy weather and lots of cool shady hideaways if needed
• No one hassles you to buy anything, rather you get politely asked once, then get a smile
• EVERYONE SMILES
• Big colourful butterflies glide around effortlessly
• The most laid back atmosphere I have ever experienced
• Massages for £3
• EVERYONE SMILES
Mark and I had a fabulous few days here, playing in stunning waterfalls the colour of turquoise, cycling around on granny bikes and indulging in squidgy cake and fresh coffee watching the very relaxed world go by. I love this place so much! On the note of the waterfall, we hiked up to the top and noticed a few people going down a path which said “Danger, do not enter” which of course was an invitation to explore further…
After scrambling down some rocks we found a beautiful untouched pool of water which provided the flow into the top of the waterfall. As the current was not strong we were able to lie on the top of the waterfall on the edge and wave at the concerned/bemused onlookers some 30m below…it was fun!!
Mark will hopefully write about his new admiration for cockerels and fill in the gaps of my rather dreamy entry… JG

We left Luang Prabang by bus, and thoroughly enjoyed the 5 hour journey down to Vang Vieng, which seemed like a walk in the park compared to previous journey lengths. The striking scenery beyond the winding mountain roads consisted of tropical vegetation, tiny bamboo villages, girls riding home on bicycles holding their umbrellas (smiling of course), pot bellied pigs, boys pushing each other down hills on bamboo carts, rice harvesting and the overbearing depth of the jungle stretching far into the distance. JG



Vang Vieng
Is apparently a synonym for debauchery and hedonism, it could not be more different from LP. We arrived a day after Bart, Oli and Feline, having decided that it was simply too soon to leave Luang Prabang. Our bus ride was great, a nice mini bus for the two of us through the mountains once more- the drivers here are somewhat more safety conscious that we have experienced elsewhere in Asia, making the ride feel safe and relaxing. We had a good dose of local pop and rock music which seems to be largely ripped off from western rock and R’n’B with the painful addition of pitiful whining singers in the background.
Having spoken to some girls from the Isle of Wight before leaving, we took their advice and on arrival went to The Otherside. Crossing a rickety bridge to huts on the river banks, this space has around 20 huts on it, with the awesome backdrop of the mountains making it extremely relaxing; this is more of what I had expected to be living in! Pottering around the first day was great fun and an early night meant we were ready for a good day of fun the next when we went tubing
Tubing… well … hmm.. its great fun. We met a great couple on the way who were at the end of their trip on a very similar route to ours in reverse who made good conversation about what we would expect where.- the bus rides and the things to see in South America wetting my appetite for that stage of the trip. Then we arrived at the first bar. Having a first beer we looked at the perhaps 12 meter swing and decided it was a must having watched a good number of people swing and jump into the water. The adrenaline of climbing the tree and standing at the top holding onto the trapeze was eclipsed by the immense rush of flying through the air and then into the deep water, pretty much every bar down the river had this kind of opportunity, with either swings, massive slides or zip wires into the water, as you get progressively more daring even the highest ones are a doddle to do. We managed to get from one bar to the 8th bar as we danced and partied our way down the river. Sat on the tubes we floated around small rapids and downstream to another bar where we were fished out of the water by bar people. Each bar had something fun about them- bar the slides and swings, one had a great monkey who took great delight in drinking our redbull and vodka bucket and then picked out the fleas from Oli- refusing to be stroked by anyone else it seems. Oli found a new friend… Other bars had mud baths that smelt horrific, but obviously for the same reason as the monkey- losing the fleas non? The tubes (inner tubes from trucks) kind of went missing at the end of the day- some buggers nicked them and we lost our deposits, somewhat annoying.
Heading back could have been easy down the river- but we stayed a little too late and had to take a tuk tuk back- I think the driver must have really hated us. We sang Queen, Jerusalem and a couple other songs and versions of songs we made up as we headed into town. Joined by some other brits, Canadians and dutch the noise we made was deafening and possibly quite horrid, I think Bohemian Rhapsody has never been sung so badly.
Arriving in town for more fun and games, we had some dinner and then as there is a “strict” curfew of midnight, headed out for some dancing and meeting more random travelling folk in similar state of mind…
Our second attempt at tubing was somewhat more successful, Jen and I shared a tube and floated/paddled down river avoiding rocks and sometimes massaging none to gently my backside in shallower areas. It took a little while and we ended up walking the last segment, and might still have the rubber tube...

Beijing 1st – 7th Feb

On the first evening, Geraldine’s friend Brian kindly agreed to take us out for dinner. Brian can speak fluent Chinese and has lived in Beijing for the last 6 years opening two great cafes – he told us some very interesting facts about living in China, such as the government owns all the land, therefore no-one can be a freeholder in Beijing, only leasehold, which may explain the colossal amount of space in the city and sheer side of the buildings. He also tries to only employ people from the countryside in his café as he does not have to pay national security for non-Beijingers – interesting.

We met at a fabulous Dim Sum restaurant, sampling most items on the menu, including of course chicken’s feet, which were yum. We also indulged in the local beer, enough to persuade Brian that karaoke really was the best idea in the whole world – brings back the Japan days!
So Brian led the way to “Partyworld” (yep as fun as it sounds). Looks like a really posh hotel inside, but has individual rooms for karaoke & drinks service only a phone call away. After a few warm up songs, the tunes were bashed out – Oli really was Frank Sinatra for a night, I was the Barbie girl and we all shouted out Abba. Of course, we were all amazing singers. Until I went to the loo and could hear them all, which sounded similar to feeding time on a chicken farm. Hehe.

JG
2nd Feb
After a lazy morning enjoying being in a real home, we pottered over to Tiananmen Sq, which was absolutely mind-blowing. It is just so big, with the people’s museum & government buildings dominating the surrounding area.

It really put into perspective the scale of the 1989 protest and massacre. We walked down through the big gate and along a strange street which was derelict apart from the odd shop here and there. We noticed some people crowding down one alley and went to investigate – it seemed they were queuing for a restaurant to open. Just as we were deciding what kind of food they served, the doors opened and we were swept in with the crowd and ushered over to some seats set out conference style. We decided to just go with it as it was all quite bizarre and funny. On turning around, we noticed rows and rows of ducks hanging up & the plush surrounding of the restaurant. The ducks looked much happier dead and in rows rather than the poor buggers we saw strapped upside to the outside of a van in Cambodia, still alive. We had randomly discovered the oldest and best Peking Duck restaurant in Beijing. A funny little lady gave a speech to the audience and then it appears that she said ‘GO’ as everyone sprung up and ran for the tables, pushing, rugby tackling, you name it! It was total mayhem but very funny. Naturally the 5 of us went for the full duck set menu, and separately ordered a very special appetizer. The scorpions arrived on individual prawn crackers complete with stings. We agreed that we would munch them on the count of three, and so it was. Crunchy, not unpleasant, until I made the mistake of looking back at my plate of half a scorpion and wretched slightly! Lesson to self – never look, just eat.
The duck arrived whole at our table complete with chef (not cooked) who expertly carved our duck leaving nothing to waste. This was served with pancakes, hoi sin sauce, and various salad pieces/condiments. Verdict – utterly delicious. Duck soup was also served, as well as some oily rape – a delicious vegetable, despite the dodgy name. Pudding was pastries all exquisitely shaped as ducks. The service was amazing, and I was particularly impressed by the skill of the tea pourers who filled up our pots with huge brass kettles from about 2 ft above the pots without spilling a drop.
We tried to walk off the huge canard feast around the atmospheric little streets decked in lanterns and with some very quirky shops/lots of folk cooking weird and wonderful street food. JG



3rd Feb
We got up early and were outside the Forbidden City by 9am to meet our guide, someone we had met the day before who was a Chinese History teacher in Beijing who could speak English and did guiding in the holidays to earn some more cash. The palace is breathtaking – absolutely enormous with gate walls at least 10 metres thick. The total area is more than 20 football fields, with temple after temple, and beautiful stone gardens. Tom (our guide) told us some very interesting facts about the temples/history so it was good to have him with us. It was also very cold, so we were glad to have tea breaks, etc! We got a cab to the Temple of Heaven (had lunch first in a great place with Tom ordering us everything we wanted, quite a novelty after the usual trick of shutting your eyes, pointing and seeing what turns up!) The Temple of Heaven was beautiful, set in lovely oriental style parks & again just huge. It was interesting to see the sacrificial area to the Gods, although I had a very real experience when the boys put me in one of the big pots for burning which I could not get out of on my own – swines! The grounds seem to be a gathering place for the people of Beijing, with many playing cards and dancing. I joined in with some very friendly old Chinese ladies who were doing a funny dance and got quite into it – great way to keep warm and made the others laugh!
We went to the Silk Market, which was a huge area dedicated to fake goods and some very over-excitable sales staff. Oli bought a jacket from one stall then joined us with the lady asking how much he paid and then she laughed hard saying “you are stupid, you pay too much” while pummeling him hard on the chest, much to our amusement. I started bartering for a warm jacket too – started at £35 and got her down to £17 for a ski style fleece lined “gortex” “North Face” jacket in a very amusing set of exchanges. It involved photos of face expressions before and after giving our prices, shaking each other, cuddling each other – all a very fun game and we were both happy with the price in the end, and it meant that I was warm! JG
4th
We went to cuddle some pandas at Beijing zoo, which is set out in beautiful grounds, although the animals did look a little bored, as in all zoos. One naughty man threw some old meat pieces into the Siberian tiger enclosure causing them to have a fight, and the man to get a good communist telling off by the zoo keeper. Zoo was a bargain at only £1.50 each. London’s attractions should be like this too!
5th
Mark and I went for a potter around the shopping centre, laughing at some of the translations and stopping for lots of coffee breaks, which was fun. For a communist country, Beijing is very commercialized and seems to promote capitalism. I also had a run-in with a waxing salon where I do not think that waxing was their specialty – running out half covered in wax was funny about half an hour later when I regained my sense of humour. Maybe they used that waxing technique as torture for interrogation??!
In the evening, we met up with Brian again who took us to a shabu shabu restaurant (well, that’s what it’s called in Japanese anyhow). At first I thought all the staff were being really lazy as it seemed they were eating first at the tables wearing their aprons, before I realized that everyone is issued an apron, or bib as such! Essential. Food was great – raw plates of meat, tripe, veg, etc that you cook yourself. Very sociable and fun.
6th Feb

5am rise to go to the Great Wall of China. It was just us in the mini bus, and we were very happy to arrive alive, as our driver seemed to think it was a great idea to go extremely fast and overtake uphill on blind summits and around bends. There were a few near misses and I wished I had stayed asleep in blissful ignorance like the boys at the back! We arrived at Jinshanling, a far less touristy part of the wall after 2.5 hours of driving. We hiked up a hill and there is was, absolutely breathtaking. Words cannot describe how beautiful the wall is – it stretched for miles as the eye can see on top of steep cliffs and dramatic mountains. You are literally in the middle of nowhere as well. There are towers every 500 metres or so, of which you can climb up inside and investigate. We had a beautiful clear day with just a little mist settling on the mountains creating a truly magical atmosphere and literally had the place to ourselves making it very quiet. We hiked up and down along the wall for about 10km to Simitai, a small village just south of the wall. Some of the climbing was very steep, with eroded steps leading off onto sheer drops. It was clear that in some places the wall was eroding quite rapidly, with many walls leaning outwards and looking like they could collapse at any time. All the way along the 10km, the feeling of amazement did not wear off – it felt like I could walk along there for a week and not get bored of the dramatic scenery! The hike down to Simitai was fun, crossing a rickety rope bridge and walking past waterfalls which looked like they had frozen mid-flow. We were all happy to have lunch before heading back to Beijing. We got our driver to drop us at the Olympic Village to check out the Bird’s Nest Stadium and other buildings. As predicted, the scale is grand, awe-inspiring and very practically thought out. It made me a little concerned for London at how on earth it could compete with this for 2012! JG

Train to Beijing 30th Jan – 1st Feb

Train to Beijing 30th Jan – 1st Feb
We were all looking forward to getting the train to Beijing. On our last day in Hanoi, we stocked up on western pizza & steak before going to the supermarket to buy them out of pot noodles (which are totally delicious). We boarded the train and were pleasantly surprised with the berths – 4 beds in each and very comfortable. We played cards with a really fun Australian family until we reached the border – Mark joked to the parents that we charged 10 dollars an hour for babysitting! The border was interesting & very cold at 12.30am – got back on the train and then got woken up again by the guards about an hour later who wanted to check passports again. All very strict. Then we got off and waited from about 5 – 8am to change trains. Mark & I popped out into civilization to get out cash and potter. We bought some delicious steaming buns and a funny kind of bread which was very welcomed by the others. The second train and subsequent 36 hours all merged into a very pleasant and relaxing reading time, looking out of the window at the beautiful scenery, playing cards, etc. We arrived at Beijing about midday on the 1st Feb. On asking for directions to the apartment, the lady in the café kept saying “I am called…” – it was very sweet. Then the whole café got involved in our mission, with 3 heads poking through the kitchen hatch and muttering away, customers too shouting out bus numbers, etc! Anyhow we made it and the apartment was beautiful! Very spacious 3 beds and big squashy sofas, TV, washing machine (yay) – it was such a great feeling! Huge thanks to Geraldine for being so kind in putting us up! JG

North Vietnam, 22-30th Jan 2009

Well, the bus did indeed get us there. Somehow, overnight, the rain and cold had set in too. Arriving at 7am in a wet and cold Hanoi was somehow not particularly inspiring. The ever so KIND? Bus company dropped us off at a location outside the main city area (which seems to be a favourite strategy) and provided taxis to the Hotels they worked together with. Not such a bad idea this time round as there were very few other cabs around and we were a little groggy. Arriving at an OK hotel that wants to get into the Lonely Planet guide, we didn’t have to barter too hard to get our ideal prices for the rooms. They were as all others so far, clean and basic; and we were located on the edge of the backpacker area in a very busy market area which provided us with amusement and cheap Pho, the local soup which seems to have what ever is handy, but sells at 50p a bowl and fills a gap.

Hanoi.. it’s a nice city that has been looked after well by Ho Chi Minh and friends. They’ve been nice and taken the extremely nice big French houses - Mansions near a Park, while keeping the rest in pretty dire poverty. I have a feeling the leadership lived in some very nice conditions all those years fighting the French, US and Cambodia. Since Communism has adopted the free market, the Vietnamese seem to have lost absolutely no time in making money from each other and anyone else they can- the wealthy driving Bentleys (new tuned ones no less) and the Porsche Cayenne in White was also a favourite. The kids embrace the new ideals and wandering around at Tet celebrations was amusing as they were all turned out in their finest threads and new haircuts/styles.

Day time as per usual, was spent wandering around the city and getting a feel for the place- evenings we found some good bars and eateries. I would recommend www.studio-vietnam.com for some great food and deserts (apparently the cheesecake was amazing- the lemon tart certainly was). Not what you’d expect I guess from a SE Asian place. Although this place was run by a Kiwi, Vietnamese know deserts and bread.. I think we can thank the French for that! Sometime of course, was spent on organizing a trip to Ha Long Bay which was an interesting experience too.

Ha Long Bay is looking to become one of the worlds natural wonders of the worlds. It is breathtaking, even in the mist. Sadly, the flotilla of tourist boats is so concentrated and the tours are so densely packed into one small area that there appears to be a converyor belt. We booked a 3 day tour there so got to see a bit more and do a little walking on Cat Ba Island. We started our tour with a mundane and bumpy bus ride from Hanoi through some very industrialized landscapes with towering mounds of coal and powerplant chimneys. Arriving in Ha Long bay to hear Abba’s rendition of Happy New Year on repeat was quite amusing (it was still on when we returned), and we boarded a reasonable Junk and were fed. Then off through the bay to the first set of islets, where we barged into the other boats to makes parking space for us and queued up to see a nice cave which has been lit with lovely lights; the addition of fountains made it simply perfect. I thought that some tourism consultancy might well be sitting back and laughing hard at the fact their proposal had been taken seriously. Moving onwards we made headway into the bay and the sun came out. Eagles soared overhead and the environment was impressive. We eventually moored for the night with a small number of other tourists. Up at the crack of dawn – 6am for some kayaking was fun, we expected more to come later that day, but it didn’t happen, which perplexed us slightly. After the kayaking we headed to Cat Ba Island which is inhabited and was where we went for a nice walk up a hill and looked that the jungle from above. The health and safety officers in the region obviously don’t look around too often. The viewing platform (25 metres high) was missing a top step … ours to reason why!

The tour went on and we were missing more and more of what we had paid for, but was more in line with what everyone else had paid for. It became very clear that there might have been some miscommunication when we booked it (we did get money back without any issues). Overall, the tour was great; we had been disappointed by the lack of kayaking as well as the chance to fish for cuttlefish, which was eloquently explained away by “there are no fish here”. Verdict: go and have a look if you are in the area!

Back to Hanoi for our next move, the train to Bejing.