An eerily beautiful boat trip in Halong Bay with epic scenery will definitely be a highlight of this trip. Would be great to see it in summer time with the sun shining but the fogginess gave the trip a 'pirates of the caribbean' feel which is hard to beat.
Dinner was enjoyed in a very local restaurant in Halong Bay city where the beer (Bia Hoi) was $1.50 per jug and 5 dishes shared between 3 people was $5each. The great thing about being in a tour group and having a local guide is being able to experience amazing local places that you would never be game enough to try if travelling alone.
A couple of bizarre and slightly disturbing local customs that I have discovered along the way is:
- Dogs and cats are eaten to provide good luck for a month (the only downside to the local restaurant was the caged dogs and cats out the back near the toilets. A few more jugs of beer and I think we all would have been ready to stage an activist breakout and rescue. Our guide's view is 'meat is meat and dog is delicious').
- A very expensive wine is used as a traditional Vietnamese aphrodisiac. How? It's brewed with a king cobra with a scorpion in its mouth. Why? A crazy King that had 500 concubines.
- The most expensive and apparently delicious coffee in Asia is made from weasel poo.
I'm sure there will be a lot more cultural experiences that will create shock and awe on this trip!
Off to Hue (pronounced 'hway') tonight on the overnight Reunification Express train!
