Trips and travels part 2

After the mad adventure that was Ninh Binh we went back up to Hanoi. We booked a trip to the wonderful Halong bay. Halong bay was formed about 6 million years ago by an earthquake but the legend goes that a dragon lived in the nearby mountians. For reasons I cannot fathom it charged towards the coast, while doing so it's tail gouged out valleys and creavasses in the land and when it finally plunged into the ocean all those valleys and what not filled with water and only the limstone pinnacles were left visable forming the islands we see today. The only 2 words I can think of to decribe it are majestic and mysterious but even thoses don't do it justice. It's not far from China's doorstep and covers around 300 squared km. 

We spent 3 days exploring the islands (there are about 2000 of them) we went to cat ba national park where, after a pleasnt motorbike trip around the park, I left my camera. It had about 200 photos of the last 3 weeks and I'm very sorry to have lost it. It's not the camera I want but the photos. After Cat Ba we went to monkey island, that's right monkey island. It had an amazing beach but lurking in the forest just behind the beach are those blasted monkys waiting to steal anything you leave ungaurded. Anything from shoes to children. 

Slept on the boat the first night in the middle of the bay. I thought it would be virtualy pitch dark and we would be only surrounded by the sea and the islands but there were other boats everywhere. Halong bay is the biggest tourist attraction in north east Vietnam so everywhere we went there were other people.

Spent that evening fishing for squid with a bamboo rod and drinking beer with a few friends I made.  As it never falls below 25 degrees here we all slept on the roof of the boat. Watched a big orange moon rise between 2 islands and fell asleep watching the stars drift along. Bliss

I like to think I have a good sence of direction. I'm no Bear Grills but I can find my way around new places pretty well but my god is it easy to get lost in Hanoi. 3 or 4 streets can look identical and I have to admit I got lost more than once. Thankfuly the locals are incredably helpful and often will give you a lift for free to where you want to go.

Food (as requested by my sister Maria who well knows my love of the delicious)

My god. If you are looking for a place to get a million different flovours Vietnam is the place to go. No dish tates the same even if it's identical. Everything is delicious. You can get an amazing 2 course meal and drinks for about 90000 dong which is about €3.50. If you are willing to spend a little more, say 200000 dong (€7.80), you can get a 3 course goumet meal and sweet Jesus it is good. The best places to eat however are on the side of the street. Dotted evrrwhere are little street side shops/reaturants. Resturant is too big a word for these places as most of them don't have menus or even forks and knives. You can get a massive range of meat and veg and some home made drinks for under 20000 dong which is less than a euro. 

It's too hard to decribe all the different things I've tasted. In the Mekong Delta outside Sai gon I had honey fresh from a hive. The bees were so calm I litlerly just had to stick my finger in the hive and scoop out some honey (that's right Dad I diddnt need 6 weeks of training and I diddnt have to wear any protective clothes or use smoke, I was handed a slat with about 600 bees on it and was told to "work away")
In My Tho I tasted curried snake, in Halong bay I tasted fish who's names I couldn't even begin to pronounce and by mistake I tasted a bug or two while on the bike also.

The food here is undoutably the best I have ever had (except for mams and Nannys of course) and for an unbelivable price you can eat like a king. 

Lastly I have been here in Vietnam for 3 weeks. I haven't had a single vacination jab nor have I taken a single maleria tablet and I have been fine. Some (like my very protective aunts) would say lucky. If you watch what you eat, only drink water that came from sealed bottle (including ice) and use insect repellant you will be fine. 

More soon trust me.

Reman away