Boats and Trains

After four hours on a bus we reached Halong Bay. We passed lots of rice paddies with ladies wearing the famous Vietnamese conical hats, and passed some mopeds carrying some very unusual loads - see photos!! We boarded our junk boat, which just had our tour group, and found our cabins, which were a lot nicer than we had expected. We sailed out into Halong Bay for a few hours and it was so peaceful. It contained some beautiful rock formations and the sea was emerald green. In the afternoon we explored the 'Amazing Caves' and had a swim in the Bay. Throughout the evening ladies rowed up to our boat trying to sell oreos (chocolate biscuits) and pringles. Then we saw a lovely sunset and slept on the boat.The next morning we sailed back to port and spent another day in Hanoi.We visited the 'Hanoi Hilton' a prison that housed Vietnamese political prisoners during the French occupation, and still had a guillotine as an example of this time. In latter years it housed American prisoners-of-war. It was almost amusing reading about the way the Americans were apparently kept. It sounded like a holiday camp. I'm sure the prisoners wouldn't have described it that way!That evening we boarded the Reunification Express train, which took us overnight from Hanoi to Hue (pronounced Hway). This was an experience. We shared a cabin with some Vietnamese people. One passenger left at 1:30 am and we were joined by a lady and her baby. In the morning her husband joined her and we had to endure them eating a traditional Vietnamese breakfast. Luckily we had been prewarned that boiled eggs are not always boiled eggs in Vietnam! Infact they were boiled chicken foetuses, complete with heads, feet and feathers. This couple dug into them with spoons just like a boiled egg, eating it all, including the 'juice' that was produced! We waited until we reached our hotel for breakfast!