My life in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: Halong Bay

Søndag: At stå op før fanden får sko på kan der aldrig komme noget godt ud af, men at tænke på hvad dagen byder, kan kun gøre op for det..

Efter 4 timers bus ankom vi endelig til Halong Bay. Selvom trætheden pressede på hele vejen formåede jeg at holde mig vågen og se hvad landskabet havde at byde.. Helt fantastisk at se vietnamesere arbejde i markerne, se dem lave ny vej, begynde at se bjerge osv.

Første stop på bådturen var ved en grotte. En rigtig flot grotte, selvom de har syntes der skulle forskellige farver lys til at lyse den op.

Dernæst var det næste punkt på programmet at sejle kajak. Jeg kan ikke huske hvornår jeg sidst har gjort det, men det var rigtig fedt og vildt smukt at sejle rundt der blandt klipperne i Halong Bay og vandet var helt stillestående.

Den første nat på turen blev brugt på båden. Her havde vi fået en lille kahyt med to enkeltsenge og et toilet og bruser der blev delt fra resten af en glasvæg og et forhæng. Man kommer rigtig hinanden ved på sådan en tur og der er ikke noget der hedder at være forfængelig.. Det er bare at gøre hvad der skal gøres ;-)

Mandag: Dagen startede med en lille sejltur i en mindre båd fra cruise båden og ind til Cat Ba, en af øerne hvor der er beboelse. Derfra kørte vi i en lille bus tværs gennem øen for at komme på den anden side og så herfra igen tage en mindre båd til en anden lille ø hvor Monkey Island Resort ligger. Her skulle vi bruge resten af dagen, samt overnatte.

Ved ankomst til Monkey Island Resort startede vi ud med at gå en tur op af en klippe efter at have checket ind og fået vores lille hytte, som er vildt hyggeligt, med et klippestykke gennem badeværelsesgulvet. ;-)

Herefter var det tid til frokost der samtidig bød på 3 timers fritid før næste planlagte aktivitet. Fritiden blev brugt på at samle muslingeskaller og ligge og slikke lidt sol, og se om det var muligt at få lidt farve igen.

Alle sagde hjemmefra: "Så kommer du hjem som neger." Og nej, når du lever i storbyen får du ikke meget sol, også selvom den skinner og det er varmt. Der er så meget smog i luften, så du skal ud af byen for at få lidt farve, og det er ikke så tit vi kommer det. Desværre..

Efter fritiden skulle vi igen ud at bestige klipper, denne gang gik turen næsten over på den anden side af øen, hvor vi skulle opleve om øen / resortet lever op til sit navn. Og vi fik da også set aberne. Der skulle være omkring 42 aber i alt, men jeg tror vi kun fik set de ti.

Vi havde fået af vide på forhånd at vi ikke skulle gå for tæt på aberne, idet de på et tidspunkt ville få nok og prøve på at angribe, og det endte da også med at der var et par stykker af dem der fik nok. Men jeg vil sige de slovenere som aberne prøvede at gå lidt amok på, var selv ude om det, for de skulle jo selvfølgelig nærmest helt op i hovedet på dem. Og aber er jo meget territorielle, så det var næsten bare et spørgsmål om tid før en af dem fik flip. Heldigvis havde vi en god guide med som kunne styre aberne lidt.

Vi havde ligeledes fået af vide at vi skulle passe på vores ting, da de også meget gerne vil i dem og tage dem og der var da også en af slovenerne (igen), der havde en abe nede og kigge i hans taske.

Jeg holdte mig lidt i baggrunden må jeg indrømme. Jeg kan godt lide aber, det er ikke det, men jeg respekterer samtidig også deres territorium. :-)

Da vi kom tilbage igen, blev tiden atter brugt på at ligge ved vandet og nyde den sidste sol og slappe af ovenpå sådan en omgang klippeklatring..

Tirsdag: Igen op før fanden får sko på og spise morgenmad kl. 7 og sejle tilbage mod Halong kl. 8 for at komme med bus tilbage til Hanoi. Det bliver dejligt bare at kunne få bare lidt mere søvn i morgen, men samtidig skal vi heller ikke sove dagen væk, da vi skal ud at opleve Hanoi inden vi skal flyve tilbage til HCMC om aftenen.

//Translation

Halong Bay

Sunday: To get out of bed before the devil wakes up, is never a good thing, but remembering what the day will offer, makes up for it.

After a 4 hours bus drive we finally arrived at Halong Bay. Even though I was very tired the whole way, I stayed awake and just watched what the land has to offer.. It was amazing to see Vietnamese working in the fields, making new roads, start seeing mountains etc.

The first stop on the boat tour was at a cave. It was really beautiful even though they have the opinion that there must be different colors of lights in the cave to light it up.

The next planned activity was kayaking. I can't remember the last time I did it, but it was amazing and so beautiful to sail around between the rocks in Halong Bay, and the water was stagnant.

The first night on the tour was spent on the boat. We had a small cabin with two single beds and a toilet and shower that was divided from the rest with a glass wall and a shower curtain. You get to know each other in a whole new way so there is no such thing as being vain. You just got to do what you need to do ;-)

Monday: The day started with a small boat trip in a smaller boat than the cruise boat in to Cat Ba, one of the islands where there are residential.

From there we drove with a small bus across the island to get to the other side and then from here, take a small boat again to another island where the Monkey Island Resort is located. It was here we should spend the rest of the day and stay the night.

At arrival at Monkey Island Resort we started out with trekking up a bigger rock, after having checked in and got our little cottage, which is very cosy with a piece of rock through the bathroom floor. ;-)

After trekking it was time for lunch, which at the same time offered 3 hours of spare time before the next planned activity. The spare time was spend on collecting shells and tanning and see if it was possible to get just a little bit of color again.

Everyone said before leaving: "Then you will come back looking like a nigger." And no, because when you live in the big city you don't get a lot of sun even though it is shinning and it's hot. There is a lot of smog in the air, so you have to get out of the town just to get a little bit of color, and it doesn't happen that often. Unfortunately..

After the spare time we were going trekking again. This time we almost had to cross the island, to experience if the island / resort can live up to its name. We did see some monkeys. There was suppose to be around 42 monkeys in total, but I think that we only saw 10 of them.

We have been told in advance that we shouldn't get to close to the monkeys as they, as some point will get enough and try to attack you, and it did happened that a couple of them got enough. But I got to say that the Slovenians that the monkeys tried to attack had it coming, because they just had to get up close and in their face.

Monkeys are very territorially so it was just a matter of time before one of them flipped. Luckily we had a good guide who knew a bit of how to handle the monkeys.

We had also been told that we should take care of our bags etc. as they also like to take these, and there was also one of the Slovenians (again) that had a monkey looking in his bag and tried to take something.

I must admit that I just stayed in the background. It isn't because I don't like monkeys, 'cause I do, but I respect their terrirorium. :-)

When we arrived at the resort again we, once again, spend the time by the water to enjoy the last bit of sun and relax after the rock climbing..

Tuesday: Again we had to get up before the devil wakes up to eat breakfast at 7am and sail back to Halong at 8am in order to get with bus to Hanoi.

It is going to be nice to get a bit more sleep tomorrow, but at the same time we can't sleep the whole day, as we have to experience Hanoi before flying back to HCMC in the evening..