Day 2 Hanoi (1 February 2006)

On board Huong Hai

Time	Event
7.08am	Surfed channels on TV. Vietnamese dubbed shows are really strange. They don’t mute the original voices and practically just speak over the original voices! So you can still faintly hear the original voices in the background. Also, the voiceover is always a female, regardless of whether the character is male or female. Strange!
7.15am	Sumptuous breakfast! Their toast was thick and terrific. Vietnamese Sua (Yogurt) was very sweet.
8.00am	We left for Halong Bay. It was a 4 hour journey and the view was scenic along the way. We saw peddlers selling freshly baked baguettes by the roadside. We passed many rice fields. Along the way we also saw cemeteries where families paid their respect to the dead. Sometimes we saw tombstones right in the middle of the rice field. The ground must be very fertile. Now it makes me think twice about eating Vietnamese rice. Strange how the tombstone doesn’t sink into the ground.
10.00am	Stopped at a shopping area where they sold products like lacquerware, carving, clothes and many others made by people who were made handicap during the war. Bought myself a bag with mother of pearl designs on the side.
10.40am	Started our journey again.
11.15am	We could see the coast of Halong Bay. Beautiful! Also saw some prawn farms. Halong Bay itseld has about 2000 islands. Found out that Halong means “descending dragon”. It was believed that a dragon descended here in ancient times.
12.30pm	Arrived at Bai Chay wharf. We had to wait a while as it was still low tide and the junk could not come in.
1.00pm	Transferred on to a boat to board Huong Hai junk.
1.15pm	Lunch is served on board! We had lovely and fresh seafood. Yummy! Menu Steamed prawns Steamed flower crab Fried sweet potato chips Buttered fish Fried pork Stir fried carrots with onion and squid Stir fried Chinese cabbage The view was breathtaking! It is a vision of serenity and peace. The cabin was pretty spacious too. It came with an attached bathroom with heated showers.

Dining area

Getting crabby

My cabin

Mien and I

Along the journey

3.50pm

Arrived at Hang Sung Sot or Sung Sot cave. Mom stayed back as she did not want to walk the long flight of stairs leading to the cave due to her gout. Here we saw stalagmite and stalagtite formations.

Hang Sung Sot

Inside Hang Sung Sot

4.45pm	Return to Huong Hai junk. We continued our journey.
5.00pm	Arrived at Titov island where there was a beach. We opted not to swim as there were too many junks anchored there and who knows what oil slick there was in the water. We climbed up to the peak of Titov. I finally had some training for my KK trip and also burnt calories for the pancakes I had the day before.
5.20pm	Reached the peak. Breathtaking! This is where we viewed the sunset and saw 2 eagles flying gracefully around the flag.

View from peak of Titov

Still on peak of Titov

Sunset in Halong Bay

5.50pm	Hopped back on Huong Hai junk. Took a shower.We sailed to a spot where we anchored for the night.
6.15pm	Halong Bay was shrouded with mist.Looked like a mystical spooky adventure.
7.00pm	Dinner was served: Fish soup Buttered prawns Fried crab with sauce Cucumber with lemon juice and garlic Clams Deep fried squid Stir fried mixed vege Steam fish
8.30pm	Did some fishing. Thomas caught a large squid and a long snouted fish (don’t know what species but it looked somewhat like a barracuda). He threw the fish back to the sea but kept the squid in a pan. The squid was pink in colour at first but after placing it in the pan, it turned white. That’s the self defence mechanism of a squid – it changes its clour to match the surrounding. (The pan was silver) After Thomas’ catch the rest of us didn’t have any luck in fishing. One of the boat crew caught another tiny squid which squirted ink all over his white pants. I guess those 2 squids ended up on our lunch plate the next day. Chatted with Thomas about his KK trip.
11.30pm	Zzzzz……

Halong Bay at night