Nakamura, motorbike taxis and Halong Bay

Hello all

Well what has been happening I hear you ask.....

Since I last wrote we have enjoyed wandering around the old quarter in Hanoi where half the fun is getting lost down some narrow side streets and discovering markets and all sorts. We then went to the magnificent Museum of Ethnology to learn all about Vietnams many, many cultures.

So far the weather has been fantastic but it is absolutely boiling in Vietnam - 40 degrees plus 85% humidity, I kid you not!

That night (Friday 13th) we did indeed manage to get tickets for the Japan v UAE game, it was far from a sell-out. The stadium and atmosphere were both excellent, largely due to the Japanese following. There were only around 30 UAE supporters. We sat and had a beer with some Japanese fans who were very impressed that we were wearing Japan scarves and even more impressed that we came from Glasgow. They asked us loads about Celtic and what we thought of Nakamura.

For any Celtic supporters reading (and I know of at least one) Nakamura played very well and scored a penalty. It was a good game, pretty open at first, but Japan soon took control and their number 19 Takahra scored two excellent goals. UAE lost the plot a little and there were some crazy tackles flying in. Nakamura scored a penalty to make it 3-0 before half time. Japan took it easy in the 2nd half, taking off both scorers, and UAE scored a fine consolation after a surging run from their right back. The predictable sending off did happen, there could have been more, and the game ended 3-1 to Japan.

I have to say that I have never watched a game in such heat. I don't know how the players coped! Even the loclas in the stand were dripping with sweat - lovely!

After the game we struggled to get a taxi, eventually opting for a motorbike taxi off a young student for 100,000 dong for the 12k ride back to central Hanoi. Lynn and I perched on the back and we sped off through the traffic. Pretty mental stuff, it was like being in a film. We got back to the old quarter and I had two beers to calm my nerves!

(Saturday 14th) We get up early as the day before we booked a 2 night/3 day trip to Halong Bay for the bargain price of $54 each. The bus took 3 hours to get to Halong City and we spoke to 3 young English girls on the way. There was 16 of us on our junk boat as it cruised out of the crowded bay towards the 1,967 islands (mountains jutting out of the sea). The scenery was spectacular. Do a ggogle search for Halong Bay and look at some of the pictures - I'll try and upload some tomorrow.

We pitched up at a 'floating village' to hire kayaks and we managed to paddle very close to the limestone cliffs/ Our guide then took us through a cave into a lagoon surrounded by cliffs on all sides.

We went back to our boat and went for a swim before dinner. The sea was lovely and warm, bath temperature and it was easy to float on the surface due to the salt. Very relaxing. We had dinner and then climbed on top of the roof to watch an electrical storm in the distance with a bottle of wine. We chatted to the English girls - Liz, Becki and Jen as well as a really nice Japanese guy called Markoto who is in Vietnam for the Asia Cup.

The storm was spectacular - we had a panormaic view. Again, it was like being in, or watching, a film.

Pretty soon it closed in and we went back down and learned how to play Rummy with the English girls.

All in all, a pretty fantastic day.

(Sunday 15th)
We woke early to watch the sun rise over the mountain. It wasn't the best sun rise I have ever seen but it was still worth the 6am rise. We had breakfast and sailed to Cat Ba island where we would stay the second night. We waved goodbye to the girls and Markoto who were going back to Hanoi.

We caught a minibus to a hill where there is a 40 metre tower on top that has views across Cat Ba (another World Heritage site - indeed Halong Bay is). It was another scorcher and we were dripping with sweat before we even started. We climbed through the jungle path and it took around an hour to get to the top. The view was amazing. We climbed the old rusty tower, bolted to a rock and looked out across the green canope of trees - lovely.

On the climb down we sweated more buckets and when we reached the bottom I wrung my t-shirt out and produced what must have been a litre of sweat - lovely! We downed a couple of bottles of water and I filled and old bucket from a well and doused myself with that several times.

We then travelled back to our hotel where we turned the air conditioning on full blast and had a cold shower. After lunch we had a nap then wandered to a couple of beaches that were rammed as it is Vietnamese holiday season. I doubt we would have had the energy to swim anyway. After dinner we just went to our room for a quiet night of reading and enjoying the air conditioning - God we are getting old!

(Monday 16th)
We're now back in Vietnam. Tonight we are going to watch the Vietnam v Japan game in a bar in the Old Quarter and tomorrow we travel North by overnight train to Sapa to go on a 2.5 day trek staying overnight with local tribes - should be good and apparentlyit is a lot cooler in the hills - I hope so as we have a 7 hour trek and an 8 hour trek coming up!

Lots of love
Murray and Lynn
xxx