Ba Be Lake

After a better night's sleep and breakfast (cold eggs, bread, steamed sweet potato and banana fritters), we joined a bigger a group and boarded a boat to explore Ba Be lake. After taking in the beautiful scenery the boat headed up the river to a local Tay village. Here we walked through the village and were invited into a local's home for bananas and corn wine. At the end of the village we got back on the boat and continued up to Dong Puong Cave. We walked through it and spotted thousands of bats in the roof of the cave. Long had inscribed David <3 Kerry in the sand as we bordered the boat again.
We continued up the river to meet the minivan where we drove for around an hour before stopping for lunch. After lunch we left the rest of the group and headed back towards Hanoi. Long asked if David wanted a beer, we agreed and so we stopped off at a café overlooking a river and met one of his friends. 3 jugs of beer later we were just about to leave when a local man came up to us and chatted to Long in Vietnamese. Long translated that the man was very happy that we were tourists travelling through their country and learning about their culture. He then ordered another jug of beer and explained in his culture they do 'bottoms up' and down their whole drinks. Two more beers down David was now pissed. After a quick visit to the happy room (Long's name for a WC) we got back in the bus. Soon after David needed a wee, again. When we asked the driver (as Long was comatose on the front seat) if we could stop somewhere he just said "45 minutes to Hanoi", so we woke Long and asked when we could stop. A quick order to the driver and we had pulled over onto the central reservation of the motorway and Long guided David to a bush to relieve themselves. Once more comfortable, we made the final journey back to Hanoi, being dropped outside of our next hotel. We said our goodbyes to Long and Long.
When we tried to check in, the manager came over and said he would upgrade up to his better hotel, with lift and balcony room. We agreed as he said it was only 2 minutes away. Outside we realised he meant by motorbike, so both hopped on the back and were sped through town to another hotel. Up 4 flights of stairs (no lift) we arrived at a outdated, damp twin room. Unimpressed, but too exhausted to argue we agreed to stay. The manager reorganised our pickup for the morning and got new sheets (as the previous were ripped). Hungry we went out for dinner to a restaurant recommended by Long; the food is all cooked in different stations around the seating area in middle. After some chicken, bamboo-steamed rice and beef Pho (noodles) we were done for the day.Read more