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As we left it last time Emmet was off to Sapa and me and Phil booked an extra long trip to Halong Bay so we're loaded into our van, over and hour and half late and shipped off to Halong town to catch our Junk boat where we'll stay for a night and then on to Cat Ba Island for 2 nights. All seems to be going well until we make a stop half way there. I'm waiting for the Silk merchants to come out but no.....is it going to be a Diamond factory, no.......its another handicapped handicrafts. I know these people make special things but what use is a bus load of backpackers going to have for toothpick and business card holders. OK they do make tequilla!! We arrive in Halong at the port with a little shopping to do before getting on the boat - 1 bottle of Rum, 1 bottle of whiskey, and a bottle of coke to water it down!! We're joined by a french couple called Sophie and Yen, really nice people and a great laugh.

Halong Scam and wasting time in Hanoi

Gareth Penpraze
2007-04-20 23:10:44

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As we left it last time Emmet was off to Sapa and me and Phil booked an extra long trip to Halong Bay so we're loaded into our van, over and hour and half late and shipped off to Halong town to catch our Junk boat where we'll stay for a night and then on to Cat Ba Island for 2 nights. All seems to be going well until we make a stop half way there. I'm waiting for the Silk merchants to come out but no.....is it going to be a Diamond factory, no.......its another handicapped handicrafts. I know these people make special things but what use is a bus load of backpackers going to have for toothpick and business card holders. OK they do make tequilla!! We arrive in Halong at the port with a little shopping to do before getting on the boat - 1 bottle of Rum, 1 bottle of whiskey, and a bottle of coke to water it down!! We're joined by a french couple called Sophie and Yen, really nice people and a great laugh. Also another couple Stephanie and Sam (French and Italian) so because me and Phil were the minority our French skills were put to the test - with not great sucess. We also had a Geordie bloke who'd been in Oz for 15 years and had wanted to marry a Vietnamese woman but her mum wouldn't let her go to Oz and his Auntie sponsored him and he kept losing his job in Newcastle and gets really well pain in Oz - Simple Tom, now everyone knows his life story and I'm sure some of you will het to hear it many times from the simple horses mouth!! Anyway back to the trip.

We cruise over to the "Amazing caves." Most amazing thing is they charge for you to go in, but at least the beer is a little cheaper than on the boat so we stock up for the afternoon. The scenery is unreal. They filmed some James Bond there, Tomorrow Never Dies. The afternoon is spent just relaxing in the sun with a few beer listening to Simple Tom's tales of life. Late evening we pull up in Cat Ba harbour. me and Phil are told we're staying in the ...