Halong Bay

Our tour to Halong Bay was bitter sweet. The weather sucked. Coldest weather here in 100 years. Did not make for the best kayaking. We paid enough that we had a private 3 storey wooden junk for just the 2 of us. That was sweet. We had a cook that made amazing food despite his attitude. Our guide was also not the best. When we first arrived at the bay we thought we had it made. Lounging on the upper deck of our boat that usually holds 14 people. However, I think the crew took this to mean vacation for them. They soon seemed to take over the main cabin. Watch Vietnamese TV very loud. Then the Vietnamese dance party started. Loud abnoxious music. I must be getting old. Oh well the food was great. We had a beautiful cruise and it was not that cold yet. That night after stopping at the "amazing cave", appropriately named. We had our first kayak. We were very surprised when our kayaking guide said he was not coming with us. He just pointed the way. We headed on the path he told us to take. We thought it was great when we got cheers from another boat that turned out to be our old GAP tour crew. They had been looking for us. They were only on the bay for 1 night. Great to see them 1 last time. We thought we were doing great at staying warm and not getting wet. Then the kayak turned bittersweet. When we entered the cave and little lagoon area we were told to kayak (which was beautiful) a speed boat came by with a boat load of tourists. We thought their wake was rude. Then to our surprise he turned around and put the engines on full and came right at us. The bastard was trying to tip us. Luckily I have done enough rapids in a canoe and kayak to handle it. However, he soaked us with freezing water. We were just happy not to swim. But no so cool. When we told our guide he laughed and said that was a rare occurrance. The sleeping was cold but luckily we could steal blankets from other rooms so it was OK. The next day we had more TV while the crew slept in our area. We finally drew the line when at10am the loud Vietnamese dance music came on again. I could not even talk to Addi across the table. She finally got up and told them enough. All of a sudden they realized that was it. No more music and only the occassional quiet TV. We then found out we had to pay for all drinks. Oh well. The second morning we went out for2 hours of freezing kayaking on rough water. Our guide wanted to stop at some caves but we had no shoes. He did not tell us. Again disappointing. My feet were white and numb from the cold water. He said we go too fast and wanted to tack on another hour. We were going fast to get it over with. We said no. Go to the boat. After lunch he said 2 more hours. We said no. He said yes and we firmly said no. Instead we got 2 bottles of wine and drank and played cards all day. At least it was peaceful since there was no more music. We then enjoyed our boat and tour. All of a sudden today the crew and guide were nice (they knew it was tip day). We had another 3 hour ride around the bay (on thejunk) a good lunch. We only tipped the crew $30 for 5 of them since we thought they sucked. The guide only got $25 which he seemed to wait for more. Too bad. Overall, it was great to see the bay. Too bad we did not feel it was worth the money due to the crew. Sonya:)