Ha Long Bay and 'Monkey' Island

A visit to world heritage site Ha Long Bay was near the top of our list of things to do in Vietnam, so after a few days in Hanoi we booked ourselves onto a three-day, two night tour on a wooden junk and packed our pirate outfits in anticipation of swabbing the decks and growling 'ahoy, me hearties'.

Sailing out into the bay amongst the limestone karsts was magnificent, and we spent the afternoon visiting the humbly named "Amazing Cave" and observing bits of limestone that were [sort of] shaped like various animals, assisted by our guide. The Vietnamese excel at spotting likenesses between lumps of rock and snakes, buddhas, lions, embracing couples, etc.

In the afternoon we explored [a very small part of] the bay in a kayak (two person canoe for our English readers). We scored a small victory in the game of 'rip off the tourist' when we managed to sneak ourselves into a lagoon without having to pay the entrance fee because it was the hottest part of the afternoon and therefore naptime for the locals.

After watching an incredible sunset over the bay, we sat down to dinner and were astonished to find the most intricately carved food sculptures we had ever come across adorning the various dishes. The chef had evidently taken more time creating them than the food, but michelangelo himself couldn't have carved better potato monkeys, carrot birds, or melon limestone karsts.

The next day we headed to Cat Ba Island and in the afternoon set off for nearby Monkey Island to view the real versions of the aforementioned monkeys. In a further example of the false advertising so prevalent in Vietnam, we were only informed upon arrival by our guide that there are actually only 12 wild monkeys on Monkey Island and they're impossible to spot, so we'd be better off going for a swim. We did see some live sea cucumbers in coolers though, which gave Meg a fright, so that was an unexpected highlight. (Just to note- they bear no relation to ACTUAL cucumbers. Google them if you must.)

That evening, we set off to track down a bar/cafe which would be showing both the England and USA football games which were being played simultaneously. After being lured into one bar with the promise of 2 for 1 on ALL DRINKS, which then turned out to exclude everything except ridiculously overpriced cocktails once we were seated, we settled on a cafe that had two TVs and promised to show both games. We were packed off to a nearby restaurant owned by the uncle of the girl at the cafe, which will be the subject of another post. On our return to the cafe we settled in only to discover at the last minute that neither of the two TVs was showing the USA game, and the fridge was broken so the beer was warm. Our American travelling companions gamely chalked it up to yet another example of false advertising and we watched the England game whilst sipping on cans of warm lager.

We sailed back through the bay the next morning in the mist, and spent a peaceful hour at the prow of the boat watching entranced as karsts appeared and disappeared in the gloom. Then it was back to Hanoi and the warm welcome of the staff at the Win Hotel (if you're looking for cheap accommodation in Hanoi, stay there! They are so sweet and helpful.) and then to Hong Kong to see Sandra and Stu, and eat some much-missed cheese and yoghurt and drink tea with actual milk in it...