A visit to Amazing Cave

Friday 9th March

Floating houses of the fisher-folk

How lovely it was to wake up on a boat gently bobbing in Ha Long Bay!  After a breakfast big enough to last the day, we set off in the little tender boat for Amazing Cave.  Well named, whoever thought of it!  Fortunately we invested in a new camera before this trip, so we were able to get a few photos that did it justice.  Apparently this beautiful cave complex was once used by people who fished in the bay, but once tourism got going in the area, they were moved out.  A shame for them, but lucky for us. 

Two of the lovely ladies from Kangaroo Cafe
 who accompanied us on our boat trip

Amazing Cave - this was once all under the sea

Some formations looked like broccoli!

We saw some ladies selling fish from their little boats. Whenever they saw a would-be customer, they gave the baskets a little jiggle to get the fish moving to prove that they were still alive.

The floating fishmongers of Ha Long Bay

Back on the boat, it was time to vacate the cabin and chat with our fellow travellers until we reached the port.  We were taken to a hotel at the port for a lunch fit for a King and then we were back on the bus for the long trip back to Hanoi.  We stopped at another souvenir/marble statue place where I forked out thousands of dong (not many dollars) for a silk robe, an onyx turtle and a cute little fridge magnet.

Back in Hanoi, John was missing his usual ‘Vietnamese No. 4’ that he usually has at the Adelaide Central Markets on a Friday night, so we described the dish to the hotel staff who did a Google search and found a place a few streets away that made a very similar dish.  We both had a bowl of it at the grand cost of $1.20 each.  It wasn’t exactly the same as John’s usual, but it was mighty good!

We then went a-wandering around the streets.  The intention was to find the shoe shop where John had bought some sandals so I could buy some too, but we didn’t quite get our bearings right.  As we've usually found, getting lost is not always so bad in a city as there's always so much to see.  When I finally decided that a toilet was more necessary than sandals, we stopped into a 3rd floor café near the lake and had a cup of tea and watched the world go by.  The lake is very beautiful when lit up at night.

The shoe shop was nearby, but had closed by that time, so tomorrow will have to do.  On the way back to our hotel we came across a night street market that seemed to go forever up the street.  We had a good browse, but don’t want to buy anything at this time as we’ll have to carry it around everywhere.  Shopping will have to wait until the last day.

Our beds seem to become more welcome every day.  Wish I’d brought my pedometer!  We're off to Sa Pa in the mountains tomorrow.