The Second Tour

So in the morning we awoke fairly early and were shuttled off to another small wharf a few k's from the town by Tuyen and a couple other motorbike taxis. When we reached the wharf we found a smaller version of what we encountered the previous day in Ha Long City, a bunch of tour boats all eager to collect a fare. Luckily this time we weren't going it alone and our vessel was already arranged. The night before we'd informed Tuyen as to which type of tour we wanted and all was prepared. His boat was similar to the one from the day before, with 3 crew and lots of room to lounge around. We took off through a small floating village/market area, but were soon cruising through nothing but limestone towers atop emerald waters.

We cruised for quite a while through the bay, the weather wasn't spectacular again, though it wasn't raining and later in the afternoon the sun would come out in full force, albeit briefly. This new and improved tour included a stop at two caves, not like the tourist laden exploited caves of the day before, one of them involved a rather precarious landing against some boulders and a shaky trip down a "gangplank" resting on the bow of the boat and a rock on shore. The caves were interesting again, and certainly incredible in their size and formation. Other highlights of the day included an hour or so of kayaking while our lunch was being prepared. In two double kayaks we paddled our way through some ridiculously shallow water and through an eerie natural tunnel until we found ourselves in a secluded cove were we could see some small fish in the water and some cool coral as well. After returning from the cove we rafted up to our boat and were promptly told that lunch wasn't ready yet and to keep paddling a bit. So, we went around a small point, found a place to drain the fluids (Dad and I anyway) and then continued toward a muddy beach where we could see a small building built into the hillside on one of the islands. Whomever lived there must have had a long commute to the grocery store. On our second return to the boat we were granted access and came aboard to eat. Lunch was great, seafood and rice although we did notice that our beer supply wasn't adequate enough to last until the end of the day. After lunch we took some time to have a swim and jump off the top of the cabin a few times. We swam in a area which had a few "sand" beaches, an uncommon sight in the Bay, although the sand was more crushed seashells and coral than anything. After swimming we took off for Monkey Island which was on the way back to Cat Ba town. There were a bunch of other boats moored just off the island though there didn't seem to be too many people around. Monkey Island consisted of a couple small buildings, toilets, a drink stand and from what I saw, 2 monkeys. It was fairly disappointing really, I thought I'd be mauled by ancestors, but it wasn't the case at all. One of our boat crew and I took a ridiculously treacherous path over a big hill to another beach on the island, walked around for a bit and then headed back to board the boat again and it was off to town. To quickly follow up on the beer situation, as we were heading to Monkey Island we ran out of beer and like a miracle in her timing and ability, along came a little lady in a 10 foot skiff loaded to the gunwales with everything you'd find at your local corner store. Rowing like an Olympian, yes that's right, rowing, she rafted up to us and sold us a few cans of beer, (she actually had a few brands to choose from too) and sold one of our crew a pack of fags. It was great timeliness and although a few of them were warm, their flavour was savoured.

When we arrived Tuyen was there to meet us and took us back to the hotel. It had been a decidedly better day than the day prior, no surprises and no mularkey. That night we ate dinner at a western style place just down from our hotel, and then wandered down the street to a bar owned by a Kiwi fella and played some darts. We had no early commitments the next day, and it felt good. On the way home Dad and I helped a lady lift a big bin of trash up over the curb. I don't know how she did it every other night, the thing was heavy.