On the high seas

02/06/2024

After a comparatively good night, we headed back to yesterday's hostel this morning and ordered 2 waffles, coffee and 2 bananas. Unfortunately, an additional banana shake that Ronja had ordered was not delivered before we had to leave due to time constraints. Unfortunately we weren't full, so we grabbed a filled baguette on the street. We looked for our things and, thanks to Ronja's new packing technique (pushing everything together and stuffing it into the backpack), we were ready at 11:15 a.m. on time. After some information from our host, our taxi arrived. The driver took us to the harbor in Halong, from where we were supposed to start our booked boat trip.

We had to laugh heartily when we checked in because our names didn't appear on the guest list. Our hostess didn't rip us off, did she? No.. our name was listed incorrectly for whatever reason. Instead of Ronja or Nina there was Maria . OK?! The crew had to laugh too.

On board we first followed all the other passengers and arrived upstairs in the dining room. We felt out of place for a moment because there was a buffet and the restaurant was stylishly decorated. Together with three other Germans, we are definitely bringing the average age down. Here we received a briefing from crew member Tom.

“My name is Tom. And we are on a cruise. “So you can call me Tom Cruise”

Tom Cruise accompanied us throughout the day. First there was food. It was recorded whether there were vegetarians. We then got extra food directly to the tables. The food was okay and unfortunately way too much. We were so sorry we couldn't finish it. Afterwards we were more than full and had to go to our cabin for a moment. It is small but nice and clean.

At 2:30 p.m. we started again. We took a small special boat to a cave. We didn't even know what to expect. Tom Cruise led us through a huge stalactite cave and explained to us about stalagmites and stalactites. We were really excited! The view of Halong Bay and the outstanding rocks was also beautiful despite the clouds! After a guided tour that lasted about an hour, we drove back to the boat, changed our clothes and set off again. We visited an oyster farm, got a short tour, and then got into kayaks. We paddled a bit across the calm water and enjoyed the peace and quiet. Unfortunately we didn't have a watch with us and were the last of our group to come back. Noticed.

Back on the boat we quickly changed and went to the upper deck for the “sunset party”, where there was a small snack buffet. On the way there we got cocktails and, thanks to happy hour, we got 3 cocktails for the price of 2. The cocktails had a lot of punch and didn't taste as good as we expected.

Above, Tom Cruise showed us how to make Vietnamese spring rolls. We were suddenly really tired and went back to our cabin for a few minutes before dinner. However, dinner gave us such a boost and the 5-course menu was incredibly tasty. We were well fed. This was followed by a karaoke evening where we initially thought we would never sing. However, it didn't take long until the crew members first brought Nina to the front to dance and then we both stood at the front because we were persuaded to sing. We couldn't decide on a song, then another German from the next table came to the front and helped us. The three of us sang “Men” by Herbert Grönemeyer. A few songs later, Nina and the guy sang “Englishman in New York” and a woman from Australia asked for “Shallow”. We had to laugh heartily because a squealing pig certainly hits more notes than Nina when she sings sober. But it didn't matter because everyone thought it was funny. That’s what karaoke is all about, right?

“Be yourself, no matter what they say” says Englishman in New York

We've had enough for today and we're going to sleep.

Good night

Ronja & Nina