4,000 islands? Ha Long do we have?

We have just returned from Ha Long Bay, where we explored some of the 4,000 islands that jut inexplicably from the South China Sea. It was an amazing place, the pictures below do not do it justice and, once again, I'm going to have to recommend visiting it yourself, should you want to know what it looks like.

We were picked up from the hotel, driven to Ha Long City, we boarded the boat and were fed lunch before we visited a big cave on one of the islands. We reboarded the boat, sailed away for a while and anchored in a secluded area for some swimming. However, the surroundings became less secluded as more and more boats arrived with the same idea. Predictably, the locals had little rowing boats from which they sold the usual tourist fare - beer, cigarettes, pineapple, etc., etc. The illusion of isolation dissolved rapidly.

The first night we spent on board the boat. The next morning, we visited the largest island, known as Cat Ba Island, and checked into an hotel there. He went on a wee hike up a steep hill which had some great views from a tower at the summit. Later that day, we went kayaking to a small but empty beach and then to a lagoon that was inside a donut-shaped island. The tide was high, so we had to hop out of the kayaks, swim them through a small opening and jump back in them once inside. It was worth the hassle though.

We went back to the hotel for dinner and then on to a kareoke bar. Kareoke is very popular here. Unfortunately, no one seems able to sing. What's more, eight hour bus journeys, with maniacal drivers, on barely passable roads are only just about bearable before the kareoke starts up. Also, for some reason, it's considered very cool to put bits of English into songs. There was one particularly popular song in Cambodia whose chorus began with the classic line

"I love you, loving you, like the mouse so loves the rice"

and ended with the words

"Everything, I do it for you"

which had the same tune as a certain Brian Adams song that was UK number one for 17 weeks in the early 90s. Bizarre.

After some beer and kareoke, we retired early to bed, but woke up again at 01.45 to watch the Champions' League Final.

We came back to Hanoi today. Ha Long Bay was the best thing we've done on this holiday thus far. If you want to know why, all you have to do is come and visit Vietnam. It's after midnight and I'm tired, so I'll leave it there.

Shopping will be done tomorrow and Dee is going home the day after.

Toby.

We went to Ha Long Bay for two nights. This is the marina at Ha Long City, which was buzzing with tourists ready to detract from eachother's sense of isolation. If there's one thing tourists hate, it's other tourists.

This is the roof of our boat on the way towards the 4,000 islands that jut vertically out of the water.

We got to go swimming at regular intervals. We also spent an afternoon kayaking. I spent the following day unable to move my arms.

Junk. And stuff.

The following are some pictures I took to try and capture the majesty of Ha Long Bay. To see what people who are better at this sort of thing than me did, try here.

We visited a big cave that was lit in weird colours and at one point had lights reflecting on the roof of the cave that gave the impression there was a pool below when there was none. This rock formation was by far the most interesting part.

We hiked up a hill on the biggest island. Thirsty work that required water and, seemingly, biscuits.

This picture was taken on the top of a tall tower that I'm sure would not have reached EU safety regulations. The boards that comprised the floor weren't nailed down and falling to one's death would not have been difficult.

The trip to Ha Long Bay was exhausting.

Ditto.

St. Joseph's Cathedral, Hanoi.

We hired motorbikes in Hoi An.

The beach near Hoi An. Quite a posse we had going.

Hanoi

We have traded Hoi An for Hanoi. Got the plane this morning, since it was going to be $37 for the 14 hour train ride and was $48 for the one hour flight. And we're lazy. And I don't have to justify myself to you anyway.

Hoi An was a lovely little place, though not much going on, so we rented motorbikes and rode to the beach on the second day. The major triumph of our time there were the clothes we had made. I bought two suits, two shirts and two ties, all for the princely sum of $160. There was also an interesting evening involving the FA Cup Final, a shoe shop, a xenophobic Vietnamese, more people than should fit on a motorbike and two full moon parties on two different beaches. I had a headache this morning.

We are staying in the old quarter of Hanoi, which is similar to the old town in Hoi An, though, in contrast to Hoi An, it is anything but peaceful. Hanoi is a big pile of crazy, but I really like it. We've only been here since this afternoon, but I think it's my favourite place so far (Dee's still hung up on Phnom Penh). We are going to travel to Halong Bay for a couple of days and then back here until Deirdre flies home on Saturday, leaving me all on my lonesome to travel through Laos, fly to Bankok and then home in early June.