Day 4

We reached Hanoi railway station at 5 am. We went to the Hoan Kiem lake for morning exercise, i.e. aerobic. Vietnamese women were dancing to the pop music as early as 5 am! There was an instructor standing in front, dancing. We just followed her dance steps. The ghostly photo below illustrates people exercising in the misty darkness.

Shredding a few milligrammes in the aerobic dance, we were here to gain a few pounds. I tried the famous beef noodles soup. Hm... not that delicious, after all. Our Koay Tiew Th'ng is better.

After the 8-hour train ride, we were going to have a 3-hour drive down the road to Halong Bay. In Vietnam, the speed limit is 70 km/h on highways and a mere 40 km/h on ordinary federal trunks. MonKee tried very hard to suppress her intention to shoo away our driver and step on the gas pedal in order to speed up. What's the rush, anyway? Take the time to enjoy the paddy fields. Pay attention to the photo below: there's a fleet of tombstone in the middle of the paddy field.

On the way to Halong Bay, we visited a handicraft centre. This is no ordinary handicraft centre. Those young boys and young girls working in the centre are disabled children due to the the Napalm bomb (Agent Orange) side effect of American-Vietnam war back in the 60s and 70s. Some of them are deaf, some of them are dumb, some of them are born with only 1 leg......

Finally, we reached Halong Bay. Many boats docked at the pier. We had our own boat.

I'd like to clarify an optical illusion in the following photo. I put my head on the cushion, not on Mr Bear's shoulder, ok?

We visited one of the largest limestone caves.

Interesting signboard on the island if you can read chinese.

Yup, this is the girl who can't sleep on the train the night before. Zeta was knocked off on Day 4.

While everyone was having a rest in the 4-star hotel after the 5-hour cruise, KeiKoh sneaked out shopping in the town. Later, I was to find out that local shops accept Chinese RenMinBi currency besides US Dollar and Vietnamese Dong.

Everyone was tired of seeing the same old food on the table. Not much food variety. I suffered from diarrhoea at night. Busy visiting the toilet all night long.