Last cruise day in Halong bay, dinner with Jen and the Welsh guys in Hanoi (Post #400)

Breakfast was ready at 7 AM. We had a bit to eat and left the island at 8 AM as planned. We'd been awake early thanks to the heavy rain and thunder starting at around 6 AM effectively ruling out any chance of a last morning swim. Rain or not it was too cold anyway.

The transfer back to the big ship took just over two hours, then we were back on the cruise ship meeting a few of the other guys from yesterday catching up on how they've had it on the ship. Our attention was quickly drawn towards the chef from the boat introducing us to our "cooking class" - or  - "how to roll a Vietnamese spring roll". So we had spring rolls for early lunch and the rest of the food for the lunch buffet arrived a little later. We managed to have lunch on the boat before arriving at the harbour in Ha Long Bay around 12 - and then waiting for about 30 minutes to disembark.

Back on the bus we headed the long way back to Hanoi stopping at another bizarre souvenir supermarket, the ones where you can buy everything from t-shirts and magnets to 10 ton granite and marble Buddha's - (they have them on display!).

 All we wanted was to get back on the bus and back to Hanoi as fast as possible. Eventually we made it back to the old quarter and asked to be dropped off as soon as possible, not wanting to spend 30 minutes going round and dropping people off at some odd hotels. So we walked back through rush hour Hanoi, got to the hotel, had a new room - this time with balcony - and rested for a while before going out for dinner.

Jen was also in Hanoi, her last evening before heading back to the US, so we met up with her, went looking for dinner and found an odd local place where the food was good and the service was crap but there was a nice atmosphere. And then the Welsh guys from the boat suddenly dropped by and we all headed for a bar for beers and solving world matters. And more beers. Giving Jen a big goodbye hug - and a see you soon hug as well.
Tomorrow is going to be nothing but relaxing. And a bit of shopping it seems.

Cold, rainy - and still beautiful

Cooking class - roll

"Homemade"

Fusion food

Souvenir supermarket - furniture section

Waiting for the bus to pick us up

Our bus delivering two big bags of fresh clams. Why not

Meeting up with Jen

Not winning the beer game

Dinner and Tuborg

Checking in to Nam Cat Island resort.

Malene was up early. At 6:30 AM the Thai Chi session started on the sun deck. Once done stretching the body in all directions we both joined for a short kayak trip around the bay. The sun was just breaking through the clouds making it a really nice morning. After 30 minutes we headed back to the boat, had breakfast, sailed for about an hour and were transferred to a smaller boat that took us through Ha Long Bay past more green islands to our place for tonight - Nam Cat Island resort. We arrived just in time for lunch and then we had the rest of the afternoon to do as little as possible which included reading books and doing a 30 minute kayak trip.

The clouds had closed in and it was a bit cool in the afternoon. Not something we are used to and definitely not as planned, but it was still nice being on the island. Once back from our kayak trip in the bay we had hot ginger tea - and a few beers before dinner. The group of people staying at our place was around 30 persons and we all had a nice Vietnamese BBQ but we didn't stay up late. Going to be hoping for a bit of good weather in the morning before we head back home.

6 AM view from our room

Sunrise in Halong bay

Morning Tai Chi

Cruising Halong bay

Look who's happy now

Heading to Cat Ba island

So much trash in Halong bay

View from our bungalow

Hot ginger tea for cold weather

Mr Fluffy

Halong Bay cruise

At 7:30 we were ready for our pick up. Then we waited for about an hour before the shuttle bus finally arrived at our hotel. We spent the better part of the next hour going around Hanoi Old Quarter picking up extra passengers before going on the free way spending the next 4½ hours heading towards Ha Long Bay and our cruise ship. Just one stop on the road - a gigantic souvenir supermarket. Just like the ones we hate.

Once at the docks there was the usual logistical misunderstandings before a small boat took us to our cruise ship which to our surprise was big and really nice - almost luxurious. We had the keys for our cabin - also really nice - and then lunch managing to get a table in the sun outside. So while we slowly made our way through parts of Ha Long Bay and the impressive limestone islands we enjoyed a really nice lunch as well. Doesn't get much better than that on a Monday afternoon. After a couple of hours of slow-boating past the islands we dropped the anchor and then there was the option to go on shore for a visit to a cave.

We declined and stayed back on the boat as the only passengers, resting on a sun chair and having a few cold beers. The sun finally broke through the layer of clouds and the rest of the afternoon was just nice, sitting on the deck, the rest of the passengers returning from the island with some fairly average ratings of the cave visit. We were happy to have stayed on the boat. Then it was just a matter of relaxing some more, having a great dinner later in the evening and after dinner Malene stayed with some of the other guys for drinks and Karaoke. A great start to our three day trip to Ha Long Bay.

All packed and ready to leave

Tourist souvenir supermarket. Yuck.

Malene checking in to our room

Halong bay in the distance

Nice food

Impressive views

Having lunch - really nice lunch

Afternoon break with everybody else going for the cave on the island

Entertained by a Chinese couple

More monday's should be like this

Afternoon drinks on the deck

Dinner....

...and Karaoke