We are underway! The last few days have been filled with culture, accilimatisation rituals and meeting new people. We have ventured into Hanoi traffic, and dominated!! This is our first scooter ride while attempting to find the local bus station so we could sort out getting our bikes to the coast. Biking down the same road the next morning fully loaded was jolly exciting!
We bussed (eager to be on 2 wheels rather than ...10? Bus trip sucked.) to HaLong Bay so we could start our trip at the coast. Glorious! We signed up for a wee spot of pychocentric tourism with a tour heading around HaLong Bay (apparently the 8th wonder of the world!!) Our boat used to be in that small gap in the background by the wharf. This is a big gap to Vietnamese skippers who seem to be able to squeeze their way into any small gap in a bid to get their passengers on shore. This would definitely not meet rigirous maritime safety standards in NZ! The bumper boat experience was out of this world! Was worth doing the tour for this alone!
First stop: Conveyor belt mass tourism through a big old cave with lots of colourful lights. Nature at its best!
Amber with our new wee friend Mai on the boat trip. She started very shy but soon got used to us!
Me watching (admiring? dreading?) boat manoevring skills (i.e. bumping, scratching their way up the side of ours , expanding the gap as they go, getting into position. Yikes.)
Our new friend Kev! He seemed to be stalking us for the last few days but was great fun to keep running into and to have some fun with.
Out amongst Ha Long Bay! Stunning rock cliffs and small islands all over the show. Theres a wee fishing village here (floating) which we paddled round for a while. Invested in some local fruit (from the land) and watched life go by. There is a school and everything at this village.
Classic HaLong Bay.
Amber with appapently the most impressive rock in the whole place......we didn't think so.
The christening of Ambers new underwater camera and us loving being in the water for the first time in a while.
Our Ukes! So, we got home, took a coffee out onto the footpath and soon met 2 other cycle tourists who ended up staying for a while. Turns out Tina is a Music Therapist so she helped us tune our ukes which was amazing. We sounded better instantly! Mark has the job of carrying Tinas large African drum on a bike trailer (which they were trying to sell) so we got that out, and my Nepali drum and had a wee jam session on the footpath! Was great! After comparing distances and speed and other dorky cycle touring bits of info we wished each other well. I think they are headed to Indo to go surfing.
And day one actually cycling! Amazing day! Long story short, this was our lunchstop in a cafe which turned out to be more like a fmaily meal than anything. We were well looked after and got AMAZING food, despite a large language barrier!! Our 10 vietnamese words, miming, cartoon drawing and laughing seem to get most messages across!
Bridges - We inadvertantly ended up on a ferry crossing a river which was definitely not what we were expecting, but quite fun! Met a lovely Vietnamese lady who gave us tips like the police number, her number and clues for getting to our destination. Fun much!
Boyfriends - Most conversations are based around "How old are you?", "Do you have a boyfriend?". I had one chap on a scooter ask me as we were biking along and about a minute later declared his love for me. Why don't boys in NZ take the good opportunities when they see them??!!! Had to let this guy go though as that was all he seemed able to say. I love you.
Reached our destination just as it started to rain and are now feeling happy, exhausted and glad to be on the journey!
Awesome.....looks like you two are in your element. Miri that boyfriend story is hilarious keep them coming.
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