It's 5am when the alarm goes off. Another very early start I can't cope with, since I am still suffering from jet lag. Besides, yesterday was a very long and tiresome day and a lie in, sleeping until noon would be exactly what I need. I wish the boat trip would last two days instead of one. I have travelled by ferry many times, but it is not comparable to a cruise. A cruise is relaxing. It's not about going from point A to point B. I feel very relaxed, tired, but happy.
We haven't sailed anywhere all night, so we didn't miss anything from the spectacular scenery. Not sailing means, no noise from waves, engine and from the ship/boat itself, which results to a good sleep. The bed is unusually comfortable. It doesn't have that hard mattress which is standard across East Asia and which is too hard for 'Warmduscher' (german expression for people who shower with warm water, meaning 'softies', 'loser', etc.) like us westerners.
Today on the agenda are: Tai Chi on top deck starting at 6am, light breakfast, tour to a cave, brunch, check out, sail back to the port and drive back to Hanoi. There was a visit at a floating village mentioned in a word document I received a few days ago, but somehow, we are not going to see it. I think one of the tour guides also mentioned it, but the info on the website is different in some points from the info on the word doc and the info on the sheet that is in the cabin.
Since I feel tired from yesterday, I decide to skip the Tai Chi session and go straight to light breakfast afterwards. It is dawning and as my fellow travellers and runners who go to the top deck report, many people join the Tai Chi session. Especially the French participate. The instructor is with the back to the people and when the sun starts to rise, all people abandon Tai Chi to take photos, which the instructor doesn't see.
I meet my fellow runners in the restaurant to have that light breakfast and then go back to my cabin for a bit before we embark to the island with the cave. I am so tempted to ask Kenneth about the frequency ...
According to our tour guide, the cave has three chambers. To me it looked like a big one, where you go around in circles and climb some stairs. Fishermen used to come here to get fresh water, but then the government decided to close it and allow only visitors to enter.
After the visit in the cave, we take the boat back to our boat and are given roughly an hour time to prepare our luggage and check out. Brunch is next on the agenda and then it will be time to disembark.
Brunch is good and filling and our tour guide comes along and hints that we should eat as much as possible. We ask him if there's going to be lunch on the way, but he is vague with his answer as usual.
In the meantime the cleaners are going through the cabins and our luggage is taken downstairs to the reception area. The luggage will magically arrive on shore before us.
We sit at the table for a while, look at the stunning scenery and have a conversation. When we get a bit of a signal I communicate with the others on the other boat to see where there are. We share location and it looks like they are somewhere 3 miles away.
We ask the tour guide again if we're going to see the others, but he is vague as usual. We are not pleased with it. But then the surprise follows. When we disembark, we find our luggage on the pier waiting for us. I say goodbye to the hippie, with whom I had a talk on the beach yesterday and we proceed to the road where the buses are waiting. The tour guide however, directs us to the premisses of the boat company across the street and asks us to have a seat. Now he tells us that we have to wait for the others. Hooray! We are going to see them again! We spread the good news and everyone is happy. We also arrange to go out tonight for a final goodbye, as most are leaving tomorrow.
When the others arrive, we cross the street and go meet them and take many photos, while we wait for instructions from the tour guides.
The tour guides decide on a different composition this time, which means that new people are in the minibus and some who travelled with us on the way to Ha Long are now in the big bus.
We are told that we will stop at a place in Ha Long to see and learn all about pearls. This seems to be another episode of what we call in Germany 'Kaffefahrten'. These are cheap holidays by bus and sometimes by boat, where you see some sights, but you are always taken to some places in which you are expected to buy whatever you are presented. A dodgy business to avoid. Luckily here it's not like that. Nobody forces you to buy anything.
After this stop that takes about 45 minutes, we are finally good to go. We drive for a few hours over dodgy B-Roads once again and me and Torsten comment how the locals drive. It is insane to look at their driving style. I am not that impressed, because I have lived and even driven in countries in which people drive like that. And I have to admit, I have driven like that as well. It's the only way to do if you want to survive. Traffic rules seem to be unknown, but everything seems to go smoothly and work out fine. Ken, who is sitting behind us, is having a conversation with the couple sitting next to him. Me and Torsten doze off for a while. We wake up just before we arrive at our next stop to have lunch. As we discover, this is another Kaffefahrt stop.
Hiroshi Osawa san, a 62-year old Japanese who participated in a 100k run in Japan and finished it in under 14 hours. RESPECT!!!! Here he did the full marathon and finished 4th in his age category. RESPECT!!!!!
After lunch, we continue our journey to Hanoi and once in Hanoi we are stuck in a traffic jam. It takes a while to get out of it and I am surprised to see how quick drop off takes place. This time, we are not driven around for hours and hours.
Some of us get dropped off in front of the hotels and I get dropped off near my Airbnb place. I informed the host that I am on the way, so he is waiting for me in front of the building. We greet each other and I follow him in an alley. He gives me some instructions and then he unlocks the front door and this is what I have booked:
I switch seats in the course of the evening and go sit at the other end where the Germans are sitting. I got to talk to Wolfgang and his wife Steffi during the weekend, but now I have the chance to talk to Sonja, the fourth German of the group. She says that she is leaving the day after tomorrow and I ask her if she has time to meet tomorrow. She says that she will go on a bicycle tour in the morning and asks if I want to join. I am astound to hear that, but I like the idea of cycling through madness. She tells Celes, whose idea it was and she sends me the link to sign up. Celes is also leaving the day after tomorrow and didn't want to waste a day with doing nothing. She discovered a cycling and food tour around Hanoi and told Jocyn, who told Sonja, who told me. I am really looking forward to it!
After dinner some of the ladies want to continue and go have a coffee somewhere and mention a place nearby. Once there, we discover that it is under renovation. So Wolfgang takes the lead and we walk towards Beer Street and enter one of the bars where we have a few drinks.
It's after midnight when I go to bed and it will, once again be a short night. Cycling starts early in the morning.
Good night world!
We haven't sailed anywhere all night, so we didn't miss anything from the spectacular scenery. Not sailing means, no noise from waves, engine and from the ship/boat itself, which results to a good sleep. The bed is unusually comfortable. It doesn't have that hard mattress which is standard across East Asia and which is too hard for 'Warmduscher' (german expression for people who shower with warm water, meaning 'softies', 'loser', etc.) like us westerners.
Today on the agenda are: Tai Chi on top deck starting at 6am, light breakfast, tour to a cave, brunch, check out, sail back to the port and drive back to Hanoi. There was a visit at a floating village mentioned in a word document I received a few days ago, but somehow, we are not going to see it. I think one of the tour guides also mentioned it, but the info on the website is different in some points from the info on the word doc and the info on the sheet that is in the cabin.
Since I feel tired from yesterday, I decide to skip the Tai Chi session and go straight to light breakfast afterwards. It is dawning and as my fellow travellers and runners who go to the top deck report, many people join the Tai Chi session. Especially the French participate. The instructor is with the back to the people and when the sun starts to rise, all people abandon Tai Chi to take photos, which the instructor doesn't see.
I meet my fellow runners in the restaurant to have that light breakfast and then go back to my cabin for a bit before we embark to the island with the cave. I am so tempted to ask Kenneth about the frequency ...
The house, sorry boat, of the rising sun
Tai Chi on the other boat
Rock that looks like a fish
With Zora on the boat to the island with the cave
Taken from the entrance of the cave
The name of the cave. According to our tour guide, this is the largest and most beautiful cave in the area. As we will agree later, it wasn't neither very large, nor very beautiful. We have seen far more impressive caves.
Love boats again
In the jungle the mighty jungle la la la la la ...
Zora
With Torsten and Jocyn
If you zoom in or look at the orange thing closely, you'll see a giant penis.
Selfie time at the exit
Brunch is good and filling and our tour guide comes along and hints that we should eat as much as possible. We ask him if there's going to be lunch on the way, but he is vague with his answer as usual.
In the meantime the cleaners are going through the cabins and our luggage is taken downstairs to the reception area. The luggage will magically arrive on shore before us.
We sit at the table for a while, look at the stunning scenery and have a conversation. When we get a bit of a signal I communicate with the others on the other boat to see where there are. We share location and it looks like they are somewhere 3 miles away.
We ask the tour guide again if we're going to see the others, but he is vague as usual. We are not pleased with it. But then the surprise follows. When we disembark, we find our luggage on the pier waiting for us. I say goodbye to the hippie, with whom I had a talk on the beach yesterday and we proceed to the road where the buses are waiting. The tour guide however, directs us to the premisses of the boat company across the street and asks us to have a seat. Now he tells us that we have to wait for the others. Hooray! We are going to see them again! We spread the good news and everyone is happy. We also arrange to go out tonight for a final goodbye, as most are leaving tomorrow.
When the others arrive, we cross the street and go meet them and take many photos, while we wait for instructions from the tour guides.
With the cute Japanese couple, with whom Torsten and I had dinner in the hotel restaurant in Ha Long.
We are told that we will stop at a place in Ha Long to see and learn all about pearls. This seems to be another episode of what we call in Germany 'Kaffefahrten'. These are cheap holidays by bus and sometimes by boat, where you see some sights, but you are always taken to some places in which you are expected to buy whatever you are presented. A dodgy business to avoid. Luckily here it's not like that. Nobody forces you to buy anything.
Pearl Harbor
Angie, Angie, when will those clouds all disappear?
Angie, Angie, where will it lead us from here?
It is a surprise to see Merkel among some top-models and actresses. But then I discover Michelle Obama. I wonder if they know they are depicted here.
Her Majesty of course.
We are wondering who buys those things.
Waiting for lunch. Beef and chicken noodles are served.
Beef noodles hihihi (readers of my China blog might remember the Macau story)
Some of us get dropped off in front of the hotels and I get dropped off near my Airbnb place. I informed the host that I am on the way, so he is waiting for me in front of the building. We greet each other and I follow him in an alley. He gives me some instructions and then he unlocks the front door and this is what I have booked:
Small living room on the ground floor. Notice the Christmas tree?
Master bedroom on the first floor
Second bedroom on the second floor
Kitchen and bathroom on the third floor
The door to the bathroom
Roof terrace on the fourth floor
I don't have much time to stay in the house, because it is almost time to go meet the others who are already in the restaurant. We were supposed to go to a place, but then plans changed and we are going to a different one in the building below. There are many cafes and restaurants in this building. We are going to the place above the red letters on the right.
The view from the terrace of the restaurant. The place I live is in the street opposite, left of the roundish building.
What you can't see now is the lake on the right hand side. This entire square and the streets along the water are closed to traffic from Friday late afternoon until Sunday evening I believe and concerts, dances and many other things take place.
Cheerful gathering over the roofs of Hanoi
After dinner some of the ladies want to continue and go have a coffee somewhere and mention a place nearby. Once there, we discover that it is under renovation. So Wolfgang takes the lead and we walk towards Beer Street and enter one of the bars where we have a few drinks.
It's after midnight when I go to bed and it will, once again be a short night. Cycling starts early in the morning.
Good night world!
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