Brock & Adam's Holiday Adventure

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Friday, April 6, 2012

We woke to an extremely foggy day aboard the Paloma. We participated in early morning Tai Chi on the top deck, which was great to stretch us before breakfast and the cave walk.
The boys had a sleep in then joined us for breaky, then we took the tender to the cave area. After a bit of a climb we toured 3 caves, called surprise cave. The largest one was massive, over 10,000 sq metres. After the caves it was back to the Paloma for an early lunch before check out and the 4 hour journey back to Hanoi. The trip was again an eye opener with near misses a regular occurance throughout the journey. Back in hanoi we had dinner at a lovely place on the lake called little kitchen, which serves western & Asian food. Throughout the trip so far I've endeavored to eat the local fare - no western food for main meals except breakfast. All the food has been delicious and plenty of it wherever we go.

Surprise caves HaLong bay

Foggy HaLong bay

HaLong bay cave walk

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Journey to HaLong bay

We had to be ready by 8 for our journey to HaLong bay for the departure of the Paloma (our ship for the next 24 hours). Out of Hanoi we drove past rice and vegetable fields and industrial areas. On the way to the dock we stopped for a break at an art shop where they sold stuff like statues, pots, paintings, tailor made clothes and jewelry. Some of the items in there were made by children and adults who had disabilities. We continued on to HaLong bay - the total journey took around 4 hours. A tender took us to our vessel and after a quick freshen up we were treated to a luncheon of nine different dishes! After lunch we went on a kayak adventure around the islands and saw some amazing sights and the people living on the water. Once we got back to the Paloma we had a small party where we got to meet everyone onboard the ship.
When Dinner was served again on offer were 9 courses, but as we were still recovering from lunch we declined a few dishes. We retired early for a sleep on the peaceful waters.

Rice fields on way to HaLong bay

Mum & dad relaxing onboard Paloma

Kayaking HaLong bay

Fishing villages on water HaLong bay

The Paloma - our junk for the night

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Busy day in Hanoi

Adam is writing the blog today. Yesterday we did lots of things. After a big breakfast we went to the war military museum with our tour guide. She told us the history of Vietnam and how the wars started over time. She talked about Ho Chi Minh who was their leader and the people's hero. Show showed us around the war museum. After the war museum we went to the Ho Chi Minh complex and temple. There was his old house, his office and his temple. He had a enormous garden for the people to come and see. We saw a half coconut half oak tree in his back yard. We went to the lotus pagoda where people go to pray for children and luck.
For lunch we went to Koto restaurant - diner and training centre run by disadvantaged youth. The meal was great.
Our next journey was back to the hotel on cyclo doing a tour through the old quarter.
We saw a water puppet show it was fantastic!! Then we got new shoes (All stars) they're great !