As there was very little to do here and as it was my 30th birthday we decided to check into a hotel with a pool and relax in the sun and cool off when neccessary, (this travelling lark is tough work).
We had done some legwork and found a great deal for 2 nights aboard the Indochina which sail around the limestone islands with their huge orange sails raised like a proud peacock. And so we were very much looking forward to our next few nights.
We got down the the wharf bright and early, well, almost, Dave and Jodi had both been a little unwell in the night and so the well worked on tan had been replaced by a grey-green and the happy smiles had been replaced with a cold sweat. But we were about to set foot on the Indochina, nothing could dampen our spirits. We were introduced to our 'guide', I will use that term very loosely indeed, a fellow named Bang, who took us to a small boat with peeling paint and a few too many rusty nails. "Are we going to the Indochina?" we ask in unison, "It's being clean, we got to one just as good" Huummmmm?
So out in the bay we pull up to the mighty Heritage Cruise, or more specifically, the Her t ge rui e. This Red and Yellow beast of the sea put the Junk in Junk Boat. We were shown to our '19 square foot room' it was about 6ft wide and we couldn't fit our rucksacks in and be in the room at the same time. We voiced our disappointment to our 'guide' and decided that we were in Ha Long bay and we should make the most of it. But as we sailed out into the bay passing the entire fleet of Indochina boats it was hard not to feel a little ripped off.
Our 'guide' then took us to a cave and displayed his in depth knowledge of the area by pointing at various rocks and telling us they looked like a range of animals, "look a monkey!" at one point he even said "look a lion, or a dog?" We were then taken to the spot we would be spending the evening and dropped anchor before having the chance to do some kayaking. Our 'guide' took us around a few of the islands to a cave which opened up into a lagoon at the centre of one of the linestone islands, it was beautiful, tranquil and still, then a monkey fell off the cliff into the sea, (you don't see that everyday!). As night fell we realised that our 'guide' had left us and so we made the journey back through a bit of guess work.
Back on the boat we decided that despite the obvious frustrations we were in one of the great natural beauties of the world and we had to make the most of it. And so as we flung ourselves from the top deck of the boat into the South China Sea our frustrations washed away. After dinner we cracked out the karaoke, Jill starting the night we 'Hit me baby one more time' before Dave and I took to the mic for an hour long set which included a wide range of classics like Lionel Richies 'Hello', a wonderful rendition of John Lennon's 'Can't buy me love' by Dave in a soprano voice and finally the theme tune from 'Flipper'. It was a great evening.
The following day we sailed through the bay seeing more of the area and getting a real feel for the scale of it all before we jumped in some kayakes and explored for an hour. It was after the kayaking that Dave and I thought that we should be trying some more impressive dives from the boat and begun to encourage some silly behavour. Dave did a successful if not beautiful flip from the top deck so I felt I should follow suit. After a couple of minutes trying to get my head around the angles and speed needed to make a perfect entry and getting some helpful advice from the others I made my attempt. Rather than a 360 spin, I managed a 270 which resulted in a pretty impressive and loud back-flop (see picture below for the results). It was a painful but very funny end to what had ultimately been a funny and memorable time.
The following day we headed back to Ha Noi to say our goodbyes to the Hogan-Clayton clan before making a move south to try and get some miles under our belts. Next stop Ninh Binh!
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