Vietnam 2023

Waiting in the Lobby for my guide for the day. I’ve booked through a local on Air BnB, so hopefully it’ll be a small group.

Bizarre Buffet for breakfast as they usually are. Dodgy processing system this morning so a bland brekkie and an Imodium 🥴

Sun is trying to come out, hazy though.

Glitch last night as the rest of the day didn’t save 🤨 Second go…

It was a small group, thank goodness, only 16 of us. Mostly European and a young family from the Netherlands, he was telling me they got stuck in Tahiti with a 2 and 3 year old for 12 weeks at the start of Covid. First week was great, the rest was hell as they couldn’t go more than a k from their hotel room and never together. I said “Well travelled kids, and lucky to survive that” He agreed and laughed heartedly.

We cruised past the last remaining floating village, which our guide Zuan grew up on. The government basically dismantled the village so they could get the UNESCO world heritage accreditation, but now they live individually or in small clusters. They grow their food, have chickens, pigs and pets - though the dogs are more to guard the place.

From there to the place where we got the kayaks, with a couple of other groups and I was paired up with another solo traveller who, whilst protesting the whole way to the kayak that she was no expert, immediately jumped in and started paddling off at break neck speed in the wrong direction. Not sure if her inability to follow directions a language barrier or she just wanted to do her own thing, but she didn’t like me telling her anything! And she decided we should take turns paddling, so when I paddled I matched the gentle speed of Zuan, when she paddled we flew past everyone else and I had to put the camera away as she’d shower me with water. Even when returning the kayak, we went nose first at break neck speed toward the dock, with the guy on the dock yelling waving at us to stop!! Her paddling forward, me paddling backwards….

From there to the bottom of Ha Long Bay to drop anchor for lunch, which was delicious and plentiful, cooked on board by the wife of the boat owner. We could see Ha Long city through the haze and the 100’s of cruise ships - I am so glad that the Cruise didn’t work out, I would have hated it.

Everyone else had a nap, I chewed Zuans ear off about the pollution and what the government were doing to protect the natural beauty of Viet Nam.
When we got in the Kayaks, he did tell everyone that if they could safely collect any rubbish to throw it in the back, but he and I were the only ones that did. I would have liked to have a net. There was one area we went through that was just covered in a scum, rubbish and styrofoam pieces 😱😭, and he assured us that a boat comes through and sweeps the area with nets each morning, but it depends on the currents and tides where it drifts to.

We cruised on to the spot where we were to swim and I had decided when I was watching the soapy, lunch soup dribble over the side of the boat, and knowing that the toilet waste from ours and the other dozen boats also went in to the water with the rubbish in the also went in, that I wouldn’t. Also bloody cold! However, I caved … only here once and it may sadly not be better than it is now for a long time.😢

Jumped off, swam further than I have done since school, gave up trying to collect styrofoam balls as I swam and tried not to think about how cold it was.
Explored the shore, crawled (as best I could) through the caves to the beaches on the other side and waited for the others, frozen, to swim back enmass. In case I drowned myself!

While I waited, I congratulated a couple of young girls who had collected one of the huge deteriorating styrofoam floats and had it loaded on the back of their kayak. They were taking it back to land to put it in a bin. I commented about how much rubbish there was and they wailed about how it was everywhere! And it really was 😢

I hitched a ride on a kayak to the boat - so glad I didn’t have to get wet again or sink to the bottom of the bay with all the rubbish.

From our swim to a floating fish farm, where balancing on the boards around the edges was a feat in itself. I think it was mostly for scientific reasons and to breed. They have to wash the fish every few months to get the pollution off them, don’t eat them because they’re in such close quarters they don’t taste nice and they grow them to as big as they can - one groper was 80 kgs and so big that he can’t be washed anymore and will be let loose to survive if he can. Though he just lay there waiting for the offered fish to float into his mouth, so might not.

Slow cruise back to the harbour and returned to the hotel for a long hot shower and rest the throbbing leg. Before hunger sent me out again.

It’s warmed up - yay! Massive bowl of noodles and seafood at another back street local place. Wonder how much plastic I have inadvertently ingested in my seafood feeds of the last few days.

And I’m out at 9:30
20’
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