It was precisely 6 am when the drizzling began that morning, and at this exact time the alarm went off telling us to get out of bed and ready for some sea kayaking. Truth be told, the last thing I wanted to do that morning was get into a kayak and paddle around in freezing cold water, but of course this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and there was no way I would let my laziness take over.
Everyone gathered at the top deck looking distinctly sleepy-eyed but soon perked up as the boat pulled up beside a floating kayak centre in the middle of these massive limestone rocks.
Leon and I grabbed one of the newer looking kayaks (safety first!) and gently tested the waters. Once we got our paddling in sync it was incredible being able to meander around the karsts, stopping by some small caves to admire the sheer beauty of them. It started to brighten up a little as time passed and overall we had a lot of fun kayaking in the water. Nothing like some early morning exercise to get the blood flowing! After our 45 minutes were up, we all happily climbed back onboard the boat and were instructed by our tour guide to get ready for breakfast quickly as we were behind schedule. He was one of the most passively aggressive people we had ever come across as a group, so not to make him really angry we did as we were told and swiftly showered before heading up to breakfast.
When we got upstairs, what we were greeted with was one of the most hilarious moments on the trip. Sat in front of the TV were all the crew of the boat, watching some form of Vietnamese soft porn! I thought I could hear some dodgy sounds when I was in the shower but I thought I had been imagining things. Nope, at 8 o clock in the morning, as we sat having some fried eggs and bread, the guys on the boat thought it would be appropriate to watch some pornography. Whatever floats your boat, as the saying goes.
After an entertaining breakfast, we sailed on a little and took in the views once again, before saying goodbye to the others on our boat. Leon and I had to stay on the boat and they had an extra day as part of their package, which entailed staying on Cat Ba Island for the night.
The journey back was more beautiful than the previous day because the sun had thankfully decided to come out just for us. Once back on shore, we had a bit of a wait before we were ushered onto yet another minibus for our journey back to Hanoi. En route we stopped at a hotel which seemed to just cater for bus loads of tourists on their way back to Hanoi, with four floors full of hungry foreigners. We were fed some fried fish, rice, soup, spring rolls and omelette (the usual fare) which was bland but filled us up for the next few hours. Leon and I were both a little worried that we were pushing it a little as we had a train to catch that evening down to Hue, but had to pick up our rucksacks from the travel agency first. Despite the pretty horrific traffic on the way back, mainly as we approached Hanoi, we luckily made it on time to the agency and they kindly called a legal taxi for us to take us to Hanoi Railway Station. I say legal taxi because the taxis around Hanoi are notorious for fleecing tourists by speeding up their meters, so we were happy to wait for one of the government cabs who wouldn’t dream of doing that (in case they get found and sent to prison, then who knows what...)
Our train pulled up at the platform just after we had purchased some food for our journey: can of coke, check. Bag of crisps, check. Some funny coconut bun, check. We boarded the train and took time to inspect our cabin. It had two triple bunk beds in each one on our carriage, with air con and a window, with about 70 centimetres between the bunks for you to walk around (or just about turn around) in. After the brief wave of claustrophobia passed, we climbed up to our individual beds (we were both on the two top bunks) and could just about sit up. Leon, being taller than me, somewhat resembled the Hunchback of Notre Dame in the way that he was sitting! It was comfortable though and compared to long distance coach rides, much more pleasant and easier to get some sleep on a sleeper train. The only annoying part of the trip was realising that our tickets said that the price of the bunk was considerably cheaper than what we had paid the travel agent. Scrap that, we weren’t annoyed – we were fuming. I am pleased to say that this was the one and only time that we were royally ripped off in Vietnam but definitely would recommend everyone who visits Vietnam to watch out for scams like this.
After a long day, we were both shattered so it was off to bed nice and early. Luckily for us, the other people in the cabin were all part of a family going home for Chinese New Year and were decent folks so I was able to have a fairly peaceful sleep, save for the few bumps on the track along the way.
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