Overnight in Halong Bay (1 of 2)

Morning

We awoke in our room to the ambiance of a fridge freezer, created byour Eco unfriendly air conditioning unit, at a bleary eyed hour of 7o' clock. After a nutritious breakfast of lean beacon and fried eggs,as predictable as the tides by now, we were carted on to a luxuriouscarriage ready to take on the Vietnamese roads of the Soviet era.During our off road on road journey we briefly stopped off at afactory store where mentally handicapped people produce andmanufacture hand made goods. These unfortunate people are oftengeneration victims of the chemical Agent Orange used by U.S forcesduring the war and now years on those who survived passed thispoignant legacy onto their children as a result.

Afternoon

At around 12.30 we arrived at Halong City, birthing port of the boatthat would take us around Halong bay. We were greeted with a touristatmosphere and all its flashy and alluring side-kicks, street sellersthat stick to you like glue, high rise hotels reminiscent of theBallymun flat towers with a better patina and finally a histrioniccocktail of numerous accents both comprehensible and head scratching.Our boat was a Junk, junk being a noun not an adjective in this case,on which we cavalierly hopped on yelling "Tally Ho". The tour ofHalong bay had commenced. Our guide, whose real name does not computewith a western tongue, was called Tony and he vehemously told us allthe names of the various elegant rock features which we saw, allhaving some connection to dragons. We solemnly nodded, not having theheart to tell him they don't actually exist.

Shane Mac