Hanoi, Viet Nam -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/11/2009 -- We took an amazing 2 day trip east to Ha Long Bay, just near Haiphong - this is a wonderful archipelligo in the South China Sea and consists of literally thousands of small islands, all very tall and rocky, mostly well covered in vegetation. Unfortunately, at this time of the year it is quite misty but was still stunning - it is where they filmed Scaramanger's island in James Bond (and probably no end of other famous scenes too).

The Bay is a three hour mini bus trip, so we saw a number of new contenders for the "strangest moped cargo award". Runner up in the livestock category, to date, is massive basket full of live chickens, but the first prize must go to two huge fully grown, live pigs, strapped on their backs onto the pillion seat.

We toured the bay and slept one night on a "luxury" (note: all terms have become relative)junk. The food was amazing, especially considering the circumstances under which they had to prepare it (I try to avoid thinking about this in too much detail).

However, the crew were amazing, we chatted to one lad and heard that the crew work from 0530 through to midnight, 26 days a month, covering every job - barman/cabin boy/cook and have to sleep on the deck! He was 22 and a great guy to chat to so gave him a tip of 100,000 Dong = day and half wages for him (sounds huge but equates to 4 pounds) - very strange to get our heads round.

At one point we kayaked to a nearby beach but that turned out to harder work than I expected so we headed back to the junk for a beer (yes I have had to convert to beer because they don't have local wine and the imported stuff is a horrendous price).

Source: http://mytripjournal.com

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