As soon as we were back safely on land, around 11.15am, we (us and the English couple) were hurried into a waiting bus. The driver was panicked and we could tell that we must have been running late for our next cruise ship – Aspira. We had been told it would be a 20-minute drive to this different port; it took 15!

We were rushed on to a tender boat with other waiting passengers, and as it turned out we were not the last ones.

A group of 3 adults, aged in their 60s, was being hurried into the tender boat after us, and the Cruise Director was asking about a son. “Is he coming?”. “Yes” was the reply, and eventually a man in his 30s strolled down the gang plank wearing a singlet (to show off his muscles), eating a bowl of hot 2-minute noodles he’d obviously just bought. He had been the cause of the delay. Noodle Boy would then not put on his life jacket, as required by law, and the poor Cruise Director had to insist.

A second reason I remembered why I do not like cruises.

Oh, and there was no ban on plastic water bottles on this cruise; take as many as you like. Plus, on board, water was served only from plastic bottles, which we later found out that we had to pay 45,000VND for ($3AUD). In Hanoi a bottle of water costs 10,000VND.

The rules for plastic are different in Lan Ha Bay, which is where we were heading for the evening.

Today, there was a total of 21 passengers for this 21 cabin boat. Once on board we were treated to a fantastic buffet while our luggage was taken to our cabins. They were slightly fancier than our last boat. And this time we had a private balcony.

The afternoon activities consisted of visiting two caves and kayaking – a repeat of our program from the previous day, even if they were different caves, so we opted to explore the empty boat, sit on our little outside balcony and just enjoy the view.

We were entertained during the afternoon by a couple of boats, like the ones we went in the previous day around the fishing village. Once we were spotted on the balcony by the boat ‘paddler’, she immediately started to come towards us. And Mick’s eye lit up.

She was selling packets of chips, bottles of water, cigarettes and lighters and pearls.

But that was not what interested Mick. He had spotted some cans of beer, and she had some kept cold in an esky. As she got even closer he spotted bottles of Dalat wine for sale; again nothing to interest Mick there.

Now it is important to note that you are not allowed to bring alcohol onto the boats as this is one main way the cruise companies make their money.

She had a fishing net that she would use to pass up her goods, and then the customer (i.e. Mick) would put the cash into the net.

At this stage I need to point out that we had not seen the wine list or knew that we would be charged for each bottle of water we drank. Other wise we would have bought up big time!

Around 5.30pm, some people opted to take a plunge in the water near their respective boats. Again, Mick and I opted not to do that – as we had seen some pretty worrying things floating by over the past two days.

Then Happy Hour began on each boat – music started playing, lights lit up and there was quite a lot of merriment. More on some boats than ours. But everyone was having a wonderful time. And we were too.

The double glazing of our cabin’s windows ensured a peaceful night’s sleep. In fact, it was the best night I’d had since we left home.

I was determined to make it to Tai Chi in the morning, as I’d misunderstood the time for the activity on our first cruise. So, at 5.55am, I found my way to the top deck, and with two other (female) passengers I learnt a little Tai Chi just as the sun was rising.

To start off with we had to do some warm up activities, and some of these were like exercises I’d seen in Nha Trang and Hanoi, but I was grateful we did not repeat them 100 times each; only about 10 times.

I then learnt about the massaging of the each other’s back that I’d seen in Hanoi a few days ago. At the end of the ‘class’, we were lined up, all four of us. It was not a very big line!

I was placed at the head of the line (as the oldest I think), and our young male instructor massaged the back of the woman in front of him and she had to do the same thing to the woman in front of her, who then did that to me. It was very enjoyable, and I was grateful for the easy spot.

The food and service on this second boat was excellent. I actually think there were more staff on this boat than the first one, and each one went out of his or her way to engage with the passengers. Impressive.

Once we were returned to port, this was where our re-organised cruise became slightly disorganised.

We were left in the terminal for more than an hour, waiting for a transfer to Hanoi. The young woman we were left with spoke very little English and all we could do was wait it out. But our driver did turn up and did a great job getting us back to Hanoi safely.

Tonight is our last night here before heading back to Australia.

Jobs for tomorrow include getting some washing done and collecting my ‘outfit’.

Random Extras

We passed VinUniversity on our trip to and from the harbour – it was a very impressive structure. But why I mention it is because in this next photo it allows me to show you something I found interesting.

VinUni is a private and nonprofit university located in Hanoi, Vietnam. VinUni was established by the private corporate Vingroup following the approval by the Prime Minister of Vietnam in March 2018.

Wikipedia

That green palm tree in the centre is actually a mobile phone tower disguised with plastic palm fronds. Gorgeous.

We saw quite a few of these around the harbour as well.

Second random piece….

Random Piece #3

Noodle Boy was actually no further problem on the cruise. We had plenty of space to avoid each other. He did turn up to breakfast in his bare feet – but no one seemed to bothered by that.

Perhaps he is not the problem – I am !