Evidently we were very fortunate as the stunningly gorgeous scenery enhanced by a lovely sunny day yesterday was an anomaly for this time of year. The misty shrouds of cloud giving the islands an ethereal feel, that we woke to this morning, is more the norm for now.
Morning kayak in Halong Bay to the cave of the Virgin girl across from the cave of the Drum Boy (fable 'to make cave more interesting').
Factoids: Halong Bay (along with the adjoining Bai Tu Long Bay) has over 1969 islands. Only about 900 have names. Average water depth is 3-10 meters that's only 6-30 feet approximately!
Then a drive to our boat in BaiTuLong Bay where we met our next guide Quyet (pronounced quit) who is a sweet young man whose parents have a small farm not far from Danang. The boat (see pics) to take us to Quan Lan Island I found very interesting.
Kim and I have a strange knack for getting a tour where there are no other tourists so it is just us and we have the guide, boat and homestay to ourselves. It reminded me of our 10 day bicycle tour in Thailand years ago where we ended up with a guide and driver all to ourselves.
A short bicycle ride 10k along the mostly sand/dirt road to our 'homestay' b&b. Mr Sau and his family fed us well and have 6 rooms for guests as well as now a 20 room hotel nearby and recently opened coffee shop. We got to help roll up the spring rolls for dinner and enjoyed sweet potato fries, fried fish cakes and yummy stir fried green vegetable with garlic.
My jetlag is mellowing as I made it to 8:30pm before zonking out.
And yes Kim looks happy on deck we changed less than $100US into 2million VND and he is lounging in one of the most beautiful places on earth feeling like a millionaire!
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