10.04.Our boat trip started early in the morning at 8 o'clock to Han La and Ha Long Bay. We admired the towering rock formations emerging from the sea and were surprised by how many there are here 😳 Once again, the sun didn't cooperate as we would have liked 🤔 At the first stop, we were able to explore the individual small bays even deeper with the kayak. Coline immediately remembered a paddling trip in the Spreewald where our paddling skills as a team weren't outstanding 😅 but in the kayak, it worked much better.We continued with our ship... ...to swim in a calm part of the secluded bay. It's so wonderful to jump into the cool water. The jump from about 3-4 meters: Then we went to our personal highlight of the day: Monkey Island 🐵 It's a small, secluded island where many monkeys live and entertain the tourists. After watching the many monkeys for 10 minutes, Jeff went to a viewpoint. The sign said: "Hike to the viewpoint ↖️ that way". Maybe some warnings like "Caution" or "at your own risk" would have been nice 😅 It started with a steep staircase without a handrail. When that ended, there were almost only sharp-edged rocks going upwards. It was quite daring 🥴 You won't believe how some people climbed up there: barefoot, with flip flops, and one even with a broken arm (but only a short distance, not all the way up). But once you reach the top, you are rewarded with a magnificent view: Coline stayed below because of the height and had two unique experiences. First, an Asian woman sat down next to her and asked where she came from. A second Asian woman joined, filming the island with her phone and focusing the camera on Coline for a long time. At first, Coline waved friendly into the camera, but after a while, it became a bit uncomfortable 😅In the end, about six Asians stood very close to her and stared at Coline 😳😳😳😳😳😳 It was quite strange. Does anyone happen to know why people do that?The second experience was much sweeter: Coline had a 🐒 put on her shoulder and was allowed to pet it 😍 From Monkey Island, we headed back to Cát Bà. When we arrived at the harbor, our guide apologized to us. We just didn't know why 🤷🏽♀️🤷🏽♂️ Nevertheless, we happily accepted the apology: we got a free beer 🍻 11.04.In the afternoon, we set off with a ship for an overnight trip in Ha Long Bay. After looking at a few offers from various providers, we finally decided on the Full Moon Party Hotel. The deciding factor was not only the smart consultant (talking about Oktoberfest plus FREE BEER 🍻), but also the fact that we didn't want to do too many duplicate activities. But the main argument was a cooking class on 12.04. 👩🏻🍳👨🏻🍳When we arrived on the ship, we were absolutely thrilled - this was our kingdom for one night 😍 Oh, that was our ship 🛳 On the Azela Cruise, there was lunch first:1st course: Pumpkin soup 🎃2nd course: Mixed salad with shrimp chips3rd course: Grilled shrimp 🦐4th course: Baked oysters5th course: Chicken legs with sweet marinade 🍗6th course: Vegetable omelette with rice7th course: Dragon fruit 🐉 Overwhelmed and overfed, we then went swimming in a small quiet bay. Jeff attracted all the attention again, as there was an opportunity to jump from the ship. This time it was about 7 meters. On the small island, we marveled at a great variety of washed-up shells 🐚 and of course collected some of them. Then we went kayaking - again in the same bay as the day before, but this time under the guidance of our guide Van. He showed us a great cave that we would never have found on our own. And this time we had Coline's phone with us 🤩 A special feature were the tides. So we experienced a significantly higher water level than the day before and had to be careful not to bump our heads on the stalactites 😅 Next on the agenda was a sunset party - here we could admire the beautiful sunset: behind magnificent clouds ☁️ 😅 For dinner, of course, there were seven courses again. We sat together with an energetic French senior couple - who are currently doing a six-month world trip - and a young American couple. The Americans want to visit the Oktoberfest next year and asked about the traditional clothing. A Prost to gemütlichkeit 😜We were very full and then watched squid fishing and later even tried fishing for squid ourselves 🎣🐙 With some patience, we both succeeded. But when we had the 🐙 on the hook, we felt guilty and decided not to continue. After a short night with storm and thunderstorms, we had to get up very early for breakfast. At 7 am, fresh eggs were fried for us, and there was dry toast. We were used to something different 😉 The reason for the early breakfast was a visit to a pearl farm. Tired and unenthusiastic, we dragged ourselves through, and our enthusiasm was limited. Was this the reason we got up so early? Coline still wanted a pearl necklace for $25,000 - but Jeff has to work for a while to make that happen 😅 We always did these small tours with a separate small ship and were rewarded with a view: After the exciting pearl farm, the cooking class began. In a crash course, we learned how to prepare summer rolls. For Coline, it was a piece of cake since she has made them herself several times at home. But Jeff did a good job too 🤗 In the afternoon, we were back on Cát Bà and explored the island a bit more. Later, we relaxed at the beach. 13.04.After sleeping in, we wanted to visit the national park of Cát Bà ⛰This is a nature reserve and home to the endangered Golden-headed langurs. Currently, there are about 70 of their kind on Cát Bà. Unfortunately, we didn't see any of them. In the national park, we set off to a viewpoint. It was a sweaty climb through the jungle 🥵 Just before the climax, we even had to do some climbing... Once at the top, pictures speak louder than 1,000 words: The descent was a bit easier, and then we visited Dông Trung Trang. This is a cave. It was Jeff's first visit of this kind. After this day's march, we treated ourselves to a foot and neck massage in the evening. Very relaxing for Jeff 🤩 but quite painful and rough for Coline 😩 But we had fun because we witnessed a professional ear cleaning 👂🏼🥄💦 The boss himself, equipped with a giant miner's lamp on his head, performed this procedure 🤣 A careful examination of Jeff's ears showed no need for action 😅 Cát Bà, you gave us a beautiful, peaceful, and relaxing time 🏝🛥🌄 We also had a lot of fun 🤪
