Last night we never sleep well again. The room on the boat is just too hot. No electricity supply after 2 am. Some of them even went to sleep on the deck.

After the breakfast, we went to Cat Ba Island. There are nothing much on the island. I would just say bored. We went for a 2 hours treckking before check in to a Hotel. But hotel looks big, but not many guest.

Actually we had an argument with the guide. We are promised to have the Monkey Island trip during we purchased for the trip, but the guide want us to pay for the Island Trip. Therefore, always ask for the trip iterinary on all trip package. We made a call to the booking office to double confirm and finally after an hour of argument, the guide allow us to go. We went to the Monkey Island, but we never see any monkey. Wasted the whole evening there just  for nothing.

During our dinner, we met 3 girls from England and they we got to know that they are actually also encouter the same problem like what we had.

I woke up early before my alarm went off. In clear weather, there are supposed to be great sunrises on Cat Ba Island. But it was still overcast. I decided to get up anyway and walk around the island. I came back and had breakfast with a couple of people in my group, packed up my things and went to the hotel where I had gotten my ticket. All I really knew was that my ticket was supposed to get me back to Hanoi and the first step was a bus ride. After that, I wasn't sure.

I waited and waited and there was no bus. I saw a guy standing in front of the tourism office next door, looking as anxious as I felt. I asked him if he was heading to Hanoi. He was, and I was happy that I wasn't going to be the only foreigner. He and his wife were from Southern France and had taken a Halong Bay tour with a night on Cat Ba Island. They decided that they wanted to stay longer on Cat Ba so they had to get back to Hanoi on their own. I explained that I had the opposite situation.

The bus finally came and we relaxed. We sat in the back and he spoke French with some of the Vietnamese people. The bus went all over the island picking up passengers. It was actually a nice way to see the lush green island. After an hour or so, we made it to a dock. The French couple got off so I did too. I stuck with them so incase I ended up somewhere random, I would at least have company I could communicate with.

We got on a ferry which took us to another dock where there was a van waiting to pick us up. The van wasn't big enough for everyone and someone said another van would come shortly. I hoped so. I had to go to the bathroom so I told the French couple to wait for me while I booked it across the wobbly dock to a bathroom on a boat. I made it back just in time for the second van. I was crammed up front with the French couple and we drove on a bumpy unpaved road through an industrial area. Eventually the road was paved and we reached a city, I think it was Haiphong. Everyone got off the van, but the driver told the foreigners to stay on.

He drove a little bit longer and stopped. We wondered where we were and why he stopped. He pointed to a bus driving down the street in the other direction. We figured we needed to get on it. We got over to the bus and it didn't stop. The courier motioned to us to hurry up and climb aboard the moving bus. We got on and spread out in the back out of the empty bus. It was the last transfer so this bus would take us all the way back to Hanoi.

I fell asleep and woke up to a scandalous Vietnamese movie being played on the bus TV. I chatted some more with the French couple and we exchanged e-mail addresses. I found out that they were staying at Sofitel, around the corner from my hotel. When we were finally in Hanoi, the bus kept stopping to let people off. We tried to figure out where we could get off that was closest to our hotels, but the courier couldn't read our maps. So we went all the way to the end of the bus line and were attacked by taxi and moto drivers when we arrived. We shared a taxi back to the general area and the taxi driver dropped me off at my hotel before taking them to Sofitel.

After about 5.5 hours on a bus, a ferry, a van, another bus and a taxi, I had made it back. I was proud of myself. Getting to a foreign country is not the hard part, getting around it is usually more challenging. I think this day was an important travel milestone for me and a step towards future solo travel. The more I travel, the more I realize I like the adventure of figuring things out and not knowing exactly what's going on or where I'm going... "The great affair is to move."

We stayed overnight at the Giang Son Hotel on Cat Ba Island. It was selected for us by the tour compay. Our hotel room was on the third floor at the front so, at dawn, we were able to watch boats in the harbour preparing to embark for the day's fishing. I believe the women in the sampans went around from boat to boat selling food to the crews. Before breakfast, we walked around the harbour front enjoying the sun and taking pictures.

After breakfast, a bus took us back to the tour boat harbour to begin the voyage back to Ha Long Bay City. The weather had improved and the fog of the previous day had burned off. We were able to see some of the islands that were covered by mist the previous day. We passed a number of floating villages. Women rowed out in sampans from some of these villages to sell food to the tour boat crews.

In the afternoon, the boat crews wanted to get home and a race developped between the Bien Mo and another boat in our group. Sadly, we were outclassed. The other boat passed us and we trailed it back to home port.

Halong Bay is one of those places that you see in travel magazines or in glossy calenders and was on our "must do" list for Vietnam.  Our start from Hanoi could have been better as we leave in heavy rain and the bus to Halong City is packed full mainly with retired Germans complaining loudly about the poor tour organisation. 

Things improved significantly once we reach the harbour and are split into separate groups depending on our tour (day trip, 1 night or 2 nights).  We end up in a group of six with two other couples and are shown to our boat.  Probably more by luck than anything else we end up on a boat that is quite luxurious.  There is space for 16 and only 6 of us aboard, the dining room is conmfortable, cabins well appointed with a/c and private facilities and the sun-deck spacious.  Things continue to improve when we are served lunch which is excellent particularly the fresh seafood.  We cruise slowly out into the bay and and by the time we reach our first stop the rain had stopped and the the grey skies have almost disappeared.

Our 1st stop is a cave.  I must admit that I am a bit of a fan of caves and always try to visit a cave whenever there is one in the vicinity so I have seen a few but was not prepared for just how good this was going to be.  There are 3 chambers, the 1st is good but the star is the 3rd chamber which is huge.  Our guide told us that these caves were not discovered until quite recently, which seems incredible given their size.  For the rest of the afternoon we kayak around the small islands, go swimming and relax on the boat prior to dinner.  All the tour boats anchor here in the bay for the night and after dinner the crew persuade us to join in the karaoke and we take turns to ruin our favourite songs.

Our next 2 nights are on Cat Ba island.  We are dropped off at the north end of the island and driven to the National Park in the centre of the island.  Here some of the group go mountain biking while we hike to the top of a nearby hill.  The path is steep and muddy after the recent rain but the view from the top is worth it. 

In the afternoon we relax on Monkey Island, which as well as monkeys has a great sandy beach.  In my rush to swim ashore I jump from the boat and find that the water is not as deep as I thought and hit the bottom hard and cut my foot on a rock. The cut isn't too bad but I will need to take some care to make sure that it heals quickly.

Back in Cat Ba the sunset is one of the best we have seen for a while.  Our dinner in the hotel is very entertaining as there is a Chinese group staying at the hotel who have been on the whisky at dinner and have a loud singing competition between their two tables.

We have another day and night in Cat Ba and head for the local beach.  My expectations are low based on the LP write up but it is actually very good and a good quiet place to spend the day and only 15 minutes walk from town.  We spend the day doing very little and are lucky that  the weather is superb.

In the evening we sit on the hotel balcony overlooking the Cat Ba dock (of Halong Bay!) and watch the sun go down.

Vietnam has been keeping me busy, and a lot if it is just trying to stay out of the way of all the scooters.  Everyone, and I mean, everyone is on a scooter.  There aren't really that many traffic signals at the intersections either, so you just have to slowly walk across the street so they can see you and drive around.  It takes some guts but you get used to it.  The other problem is they park their scooters on the sidewalks, so you end up having to walk in the road a lot of times, doing your best to avoid more scooters. It all seems to work somehow.  No injuries to report so far. 

After spending a day recovering from my bus journey, my second day in Hanoi I hurried over to check out Ho Chi Minh's Masoleum.  I've been wanting to eye a leader's corpse since I was in Moscow and Lenin's masoleum was closed for Victory Day, but this time I was not to be denied.  They are not shy about their love for Uncle Ho.  His masoleum is a huge marble building with lots of guards (one yelled at me for having my hands in my pockets) and lots of flowers.  It's a quick process. You go in one door, into the room where he is laid to rest for all to see and then out.  They did a bang up job.  I was quite impressed.  He was in a glass casket with dark wood detailing on the edges and there was a soft red light illuminating him.  He looked pretty darn good for someone who has been dead since '69.  I thought it was rather beautiful actually.  The masoleum is part of a campus of things, including the pillar pagoda and the Ho Chi Minh Museum.  I popped in there and read about their struggle to rid themselves of the French and then putting off the American aggressors.  There were lots of words such as "peace" "freedom" and "happiness" to describe why they had to overcome all these outside influences.  It's always interesting to see the other side of a conflict.  There was far too much to see and way too many school kids, so I breezed through and off I went to check out the street where they sell shoes.

Usually they group all the shops together that sell the same stuff, so if you want anything particular, you just need to ask what street they sell it on.  I definitely don't need any shoes, but I wanted to check out that street and grab a picture for my grandmother who shares my fondness for shoes.  Then I strolled back to my hostel, politing responding to each inquiry (at least 10 per block) that no, I didn't want a motorbike taxi.   I booked up a tour to Halong Bay through my hostel.  I don't dig tours, but sometimes it's the best way to go, so I opted for a three day trip to this place that is a Unesco World Heritage site as well as fighting to be a wonder of the world.

Halong Bay is a series of rock islands scattered around off the shore of Vietnam.  It's amazing for sure, but we had really crappy weather.  It was overcast and rainy, but we didn't let that get us down.  I lucked out and ended up with a great group of people.  I met a Canadian pilot and managed to talk him into being my kayak partner.  Luckily he took over steering during our kayaking session.  I hit a tree the last atttempt at kayaking so I was glad it was a two-seater and I could basically just pretend to paddle.  We also checked out a large cave that is very touristed.  Halong Bay is truly amazing.  It would be even more amazing if there wasn't so much trash floating in the water.  On our kayak trip, some of our group encountered syringes, tampons, condoms, and well, all sorts of crap.  We didn't end up swimming in the afternoon as planned.  I still took lots of photos despite the bad weather.  We were on one of the best boats out there as well, and that's something given the hundreds out there.  This place is no secret.  The first night we slept on the boat in some cozy cabins. It felt like an Agatha Christie novel.  After a day of kayaking and caves, we had dinner and out came the karaoke machine!  At first we all were quite timid, but after some ridiculously expensive drinks, we started in.  I'm not much for singing, but for some reason, myself and another gal ended up singing most of the songs (this time I sang all of Sweet Caroline).  Then we hit the deck, huddling in a corner out of the rain and partied til about 3 a.m. 

This morning after breakfast I was dropped off with a few others on Cat Ba Island.  It's a pretty good sized island but only one part is really inhabited.  The weather also cleared today.  We checked out yet another cave, although this one had a feature I hadn't seen before.  Tree roots were coming down through the ceiling from the trees above the cave.  A bat about came up and smacked me in the face.  Then we had lunch and off to our hotel on the island.  I was pretty tired, so I made my way to the beach.  I planned to rent a scooter for the afternoon, but they only have ones with a clutch, and I was in no condition to learn anything new today.  Instead I napped for a bit, then walked along the coast to another beach and caught an amazing sunset!  I don't know how many pictures I took, but it was incredible.  The sun was burning so red over the water.  There is also this floating village out in the bay here, so I was watching everyone go about their lives in the homes afloat. 

Tomorrow morning I wake early yet again to begin the journey back to Hanoi.  I might stay there another day as there is lots to do in that city, and I welcome any reason to continue to delay my journey southward.  I hear it is dreadfully hot as you head down, and you may have noticed I hate the heat.  I need to reach Bangkok by May 8th, however, so I shall suck it up, sweat it out, and melt along with everyone else.  I hear there are more amazing beaches to enjoy in Hoi An, so some swimming will be in order.   

Om 07:30 uur zijn we alweer bovendeks. Het is vandaag minder mistig en het uitzicht op de karstgebergten is gelukkig wat beter. We zien vissersbootjes, drijvende huizen en viskwekerijen en mensen die hun bootje met de voeten roeien. Op een gegeven momnet komt er een roeibootje langszij, dat aan onze boot vastgeknoopt word en zo een stuk mee lift. In plaats van te roeien, kunnen de vissers nu de vis uit hun netten halen.

We meren nog voor de middag aan in Cat Ba. Het is maar een paar minuten rijden met de bus naar het hotel. Het Princes Hotel is het beste dat we tot nu toe gehad hebben. We gaan aan de boulevard wat eten. Het is allemaal supervers. Zelfs de springrolls lijken recht uit de tuin geplukt. Om 14:00 uur gaat één deel van de groep wandelen “door de jungle”en het andere deel maakt een brommertocht van ± 40 km. De zon is intussen flink doorgekomen en het is goed warm. We worden met de bus naar het beginpunt van de wandeling gebracht. Het eerste uur lopen we over een pad van beton (wat niet zo leuk is) dat flink stijgt en daalt. We kunnen hier wel wat mooie vlinders fotograferen. Het tweede deel van de wandeling gaat wel over veel smalle zandpaadjes. Tegen het einde lopen we tussen rijstvelden waar letterlijk honderden kikkertjes zitten te kwaken dat het een lieve lust is. We horen ze wel, maar we krijgen ze niet te zien. Het is 16:30 als we bij het busje komen dat ons op een andere plek op staat te wachten. Terug in het dorp gaan we bij een ander restaurantje eten dan vanmiddag, maar we hadden beter terug kunnen gaan naar het eerste, want daar was het eten veel lekkerder. Na het eten kopen we voor de dames een fles Dalat Wijn voor 40.000 dong en dan gaan we naar de kamer om het grootste zweet af te douchen.

Om 19:00 gaan we naar de achtste verdieping van het hotel voor een massage van 1 uur en daarna 1 uurtje sauna en jacuzzi. Dat alles kost US $12 p.p. De kleine dametjes hebben sterke handjes en weten precies waar ze moeten knijpen. De masseuse die mij onderhanden neemt loopt zelfs letterlijk over me heen. De 2 masseuses (Trudy krijgt op de tafel naast me een massage), moeten wel lachen om onze lange ledematen en grote handen. Na de massage nog even met zijn drieën in de sauna. Als we uitgebadderd zijn gaan we naar de kamer waar we kletsen tot middernacht en in die tijd maken de meiden de fles wijn soldaat.

What we signed up for:

• One night sleeping on a junk.
• Visits to various caves & Monkey Island.
• Sea kayaking.
• Fishing and then barbecuing the catch on the beach.
• One night in a hotel on Cat Ba Island.
• A trek around Cat Ba National Park.

• A ride on the junk to Hang Trong Caves and then to Cat Ba Island.
• Two nights at the hotel - "No passport, no boat!"
• The kayaking being cancelled.
• No fishing.
• No barbecue.
• No Monkey Island.
• Some poor food.

Cat Ba Island, a paradise lost.  It seems like along time ago that I was looking at this place on a map in a coffee shop on a particularly cold wet day in London.  However being here was worth all the relative hassle that it took to get here. 

So how did I get here, a simple flight from BKK to Hanoi on Air Asia (similiar to Ryan Air) was cheap although if booking by internet you have to leave at least 23hrs before flight departure to book.  This will also keep the price down.  But as I did you can buy standbys at the airport.  (Bangkoks New airport by the way is really sound).  Also no matter what differing advice you get, you definitely need a Vietnamese visa before checking in they will not issue one on arrival.

If you do fly Air Asia then take advantage of the express boarding as you get a sticker that lets you board first and on the aircraft the first few rows are resrved for you.  This sounds a bit poncy and not very travellerish but when you see the fervent excitement and frenzied rush of the other Asian passengers to get on first you will see the benefits.  European manners have unfortunately no use in this situation.

Arriving in Hanoi airport is best avoided at nightime, unfortunately as a lastminute visa dash that afternoon I had no other choice.  The reason for this is the usual transport scams at the airport when you arrive.  You expect it and accomodate for it as best possible but this time was worse than usual.

More to follow as have just checked price of internet and is too expensive, especially when the keyboard doesn't work properly.....

The next morning it was of tho Cat Ba island, bus time for 15 minutes, and arrive at a national park to do a little trekking. A trekking that wasn't reaaly tough, but it was nice to do a little excercise again. The trek brought us to the top af a mountain (250m), on which a watching tower was build. trekking up the mountain was easy, but I passed for the wtching tower. Too high for me, as I'm still a little affraid of hights. The view from the top of the mountain was good enough for me, hahahahahaha. Resting and waiting for the others when we got down again, I got to see my first snake here. A small long bastard of which I heared afterwarts it was poisoning. If I knew it at the moment...I don't think I would have gone so close to take a picture of it.Snakes are still like hights to me...don't feel good around them. Jamie, a man from New Zeeland, whome we met around here, is an adventures trekking guide and was really hoping to see some snakes around here. Well, I got to see it, but he got something reserved specially for himself. You'll read about it later in this blog. After being dropped of at the hotel on Cat Ba island, and having a peanut lunch, we were going for another boat float between the Cat Ba islands. To be honest, it's much more quiet and peaceful overthere as in Halong Bay. The simple reason for this is less boats. We decided to skip kayaking and head straight for the beach. Well, beach... To reach the beach, which had the size of a table tennis table, we had to jump of the boat, and swim to it. It might sound as if I was dissapointed, but in fact I wasn't. I'm not that much of a real beach boy, I'm just more into Gabriel Rios. The sun and fun were excellent over there. At least for me, loving the peace and quiet areas. Jumping into the water was done from the roof again, and I must say, still my heart was pumping harder when I was up there. Meanwhile on a bigger beach, not so far away, on an island called monkey island, Jamie was enjoying some special time with the monkeys. What happened? Some monkeys got into a fight, and the head monkey came out to show them of. As one of the monkeys didn't really listen to him, he came up to Jamie. Jamie, being an adventure travell guide, knows not to show his teeth to the monkey, as they see this as a sign of agression. With his camera bag he tried to get the monkey away from him, avoiding to look into his eyes. The head monkey came back again and send the little one away. Nice ending for Jamie, you might think, but then the monkey leader thought time was right also to teach Jamie a lesson. He took his leg, and bit him right above his ancle. Nice story, don't you think? Although most of you might have expected something more, to me it stays laughter after hearing the story over and over again. Not to forget, all the allusions that were made after Jamie bought bananas next day. Where we were supposed to leave the next day, we decided to stay an extra day. The extra day was spend walking around the beautiful harbour, and relaxing at a wonderful beach, where it was really quiet. Over the total day, I think 20 people have been there. Excellent! The rest I needed, bacause after almost two months, I'm starting to get tired inside my mind. All the new experiences, the new people, the new situations, like traffic for instance,... it's getting lots of my energy. It's good to have some easy days. Easy days well spend resting, as I still have a lot of time ahead of me.

If you want to visit the Cham religious centre (the Vietnamese answer to Ankor Wat in Cambodia- [Set of TombRaider Movie]) near My Son during the October-November months, be warned! We couldn't get to the region because all the roads were flooded! As much fun as it is to play in torrential rain and watch roads turn into rivers we were sorely disapointed about missing the experience which is said to be wonderful. Hope I helped!

That is a place name; I have no offspring to tell you of.

Booking up on a tour of My Son, the collective (Sam, Gemma, Liz and myself) took, first, a bus to the ancient Cham Towers at My Son, then, afterwards, a boat down the river to Hoi An. For once in Vietnam, you got what you pay for (ie not much), as opposed to the luxury tours we had been treated to further south.

The towers themselves weren't anything spectacular, to be honest, especially compared to Angkor Wat (sorry to keep harping on about it) and even those at Sukhothai and Ayutaya in Thailand. Not just because they aren't on such a grand scale or without the detailed etchings of those mentioned, but also because a lot of it had been damaged by those pesky Yanks during the B-52 carpet bombings in the Vietnamese-American war.

The boat trip wasn't much to write home about, either. We made the mandatory "Oh, look, here's a minority village, and, oh, look, they just happen to have finished making something that you can buy," stop.
I had a look for my lens cap in the river while we floated down, but couldn't find it.

Afterwards, we returned to our tailors to check up on the garments. Needless to say I looked sharp as a knife.

i woke up spoiled by all the luxuries from the last day and started out with the nice breakfast on deck. nice talks again and a few minutes later we were visiting one of the caves around halong bay which was quite impressive

back on the boat we stopped in a isolated place for a last swim. with all the kids and us (older) boys jumping off different boat levels. great fun and perfect view

a last brunch buffet and we were back in halong were we boarded the bus with everyone well fed and tired

this tour was one of the best activities i did so far on my trip, but of course, one of the most expensive ones (only relatively though... i did far more stupid 2-hour thingies in new zealand for more than that). i hope the transition back into my back/flashpacker routine works well

not before indulging a last time in an expensive gratin at the tamarind cafe while waiting for my train trip to hue.

flickr set: halong bay

soooo.... time for my deluxe cruise and time to sample a bit of upmarket tourism industry in vietnam. surprise, surprise, it's a whole lot better than the backpacker service



for starters i went to the tamarind cafe where handspan is located and could drop my big bag and lock my laptop away safely. the sales people were nice as always and the friendly local guide made sure everyone was alright.

loads of couples in their 30. and 40. showed up with some old and some younger folks. better mix than i was afraid it would be.



in the end two groups got on the spacious & nice bus - us 5 from the 2 day tour and a bigger group for the 3 day tour. of course, whenever you pay a lot for some touristy thing, there is a typical touristy & grumpy swiss couple around, no different this time hehe

we drove 3.5 hours down to halong bay not without a stop at a souvenirshop coffee & toilet break standard treatment... but was not too bad, besides having every bloody bus going to halong that day stopping there it was actually a shop supporting local handicapped people so i can somehow accept it. better than just the usual china-imports sales-pitch when you just need a loo.

we boarded the dragon's pearl, our modified chinese junk, and had a welcome drink with everyone sitting in a big circle. there are about 37 people on the boat each day with a mix from 2 and 3 day tours and different days. everything seemed perfect including a very gay sounding service head honcho introducing everyone and wishing us a nice stay.

time to check my room... damn... not the small prison cell i expected: nice big bed, all the accessories one could possibly need and aircon. ah yeah and a gorgeous view outside of course. nice!

in the dining room we were seated by groups so i met the 4 other people doing the 2 day trip. it was nice for once not being the oldest person at a table like in the backpacker places



first lunch, first glimpse of what to expect for the next 24 hours: a never ending supply of food... there were about 7 or even more plates delivered to our table and since i opted for no seafood and chicken i often got a plate for my own, not just veggie, but pork & beef in huge amounts... i could not move anymore after eating and relaxed in a deck-chair for the rest of the afternoon.



we went to a nice little beach for a bit of swimming before the sunset and a even more food heavy dinner. the overnight in halong bay itself is definitely a must-do! it's beautiful even though there are about 20 other boats hanging around

flickr set: halong bay

yo! r` u` donig folks? last monday when back from wonderful cat ba island me and my brother heiko were faced with a dilemma. basically , it was that i didn`t like to spend more days in hanoi. i just don`t like the place at all. pollution is rampant (most people go around with masks covering their mounths and noses). the traffic on the streets, as heiko mentioned in his last entry, is unbeliavble chaotic. it just took too much energy staying allert all the time for fear of our ass being run down by some uncosiderate centaurous. no monuments to see, no whorthy souvenir hunting available, no massagge; plus the temperature: only 20 something degrees. no thatks, by now i`m used to my 30 degrees :-) . problem was sara was arriving the day after and we surely didn`t want the poor girl suffering from jet lag taking an unconfortable 15 hours bus ride through the night. we decided i`d go ahead and meet with my wildfriends in some town down in the south of the country. one last word on hanoi is that i think the memory of the war is still alive in the capital or, maybe they "proudly" want to keep it alive; anyway, that was my impression. fact is most of the old generation, i mean people in their 50s, go around with a hat which is a riproduction of the one used by the vietcong soldiers during the vietnam war. only instead of being made of metal is fabric. how wierd!!!

one day while we were eating at an outside caffee reastaurant an old man all of a sudden started glaring at us for no apparent reason. after a few interminable minutes the old chap, in an angry voice asked us if we were americans. our NO answer reassured him and he gingerly walked away. anyway, this was an isolated incident. for the rest people here seems genuinely interested to meet you. what`s you name?, where are you from?, and would you like to marry me? are the tipical questions.

moving down south i`ve found the hot temperature i`d been caving for a while. i stopped at hue, hoi an and just this morning arrived in nha trang where in a couple of days i`ll be joined by heiko and sara. i haven`t been doing much activity recently. i`ve read the da vinci code book, which i find full of bullshits; i`ve done lots of sunbathing on the beach, plus i`ve been cycling a lot around the spectacular countryside and visited few UNESCO sites, like pagodas and tombs.

a funny thing happened to me in hoi an. basically, while i was on my rented bike cycling under the hot sun i decided to get rid of my t-shirt and uncover my hairy chest. only after an hour or so i became aware of the stares i was attracting. i even whistled and waved hallo to a few young women who immediately turned away with a shy look on their faces. in the evening while reading some vietnamese litterature in the lonely planet i came across a shocking paragraph. it said that people visiting hoi an are strongly reccommended to behave themselves and dress appropiately in respect of the local townpeople who only recently have opened up to tourists and foriners. it went on saying: wear long sleeves and trousers and try keep your head down. ah... and to think that i was going around nearly naked. what a shame!!! :-)

yesterday evening i left hoi an at 6pm. this morning at 5am the bus driver shouted that we had arrived in nha trang. waking up and looking out of the window i thought i was dreaming. it was barely dawn and at the huge beach (5km long) we stopped there was an amazing crowd (thousand and thousand of people) doing all sort of sports and swimming in the ocean. i`m telling you!... that was a surreal scene!!! in my opinion when it comes to cultural shock so far vietnam comes number one. when i whent back at midday the beach was deserted.

tomorrow i`m going on a boat tour to check out 4 inhabited islands . i`ve been told that snorkeling out there is quite good. hopefully i`ll be spotting a shark or some other beautiful marine creature.

that`s it for now

take care

mario

People i met here, who contributed to and improved my trip: Juliana (Russia), Lina and Carola (Germany), Arancha, Marina, Monica and Teresa (Spain), Markus (Germany)

We arrived onto Cat Ba Island and got taken for a 2 hour trek by an old Vietnamese guide. After climbing to the summit of a mountain, for some beautiful views across the island and down to the bay, we went on to see an old anti aircraft shelter, used in the Vietnam War against the Americans. The guide was 70 years old and combined with bad English and a lack of breath, he wrote down all of what he was trying to tell us! Quite a good idea as some of the pronunciation in Vietnam and China was often quite hard to understand.

We headed to our hotels for some lunch and to make sure there were no rats present, instead just a pool of dog urine on the stairs, so definitely a step up in class! Next stop was a short boat ride followed by a spot of kayaking. The scenery was wonderful and the weather, although cloudy, suitably warm. We rowed into a small cove and onto a beach, where we stopped for a breather and some photos. On the way back to our boat, i decided to splash Julia, which turned into an all out water fight. We soon recognised that we were wearing our warmest and now wettest clothes, not a good combination as we wanted to go out in the evening!

The final stop of the day was Monkey Island and just after landing, we heard that a group of monkeys had gathered by the toilets on the island. Excited, we dashed up the beach, to be greeted by around 10 monkeys. We were told to slowly go back to the beach and they would follow us. The guide said they bite and also chase people who run away from them, all of which we thought was a bit of a joke. We soon realised it wasn't as 1 Australian girl screamed when a monkey got too close, moved a bit too quick and before she knew it was chased into the toilet by several monkeys! It took a guide to run up swinging a chair, for her to get out of the toilet and back to the beach safely. It was all very amusing and a real surprise to see so many wild monkeys up close.

After a spot of Dinner we headed out with the rest of our group and i had to laugh at Julia wearing a skirt with her trainers as she had no more trousers! We headed to a cool little bar on the beach front and chilled out on the bean bags until closing time. The most memorable thing about the night was 2 Australian guys, too drunk to have a clue about anything other than the fact they had been locked out of their hotel!