lagoons in Halong Bay

We woke up early on the rooftop, with the sun shining down on us. Even though it was only 6 in the morning, the sun was already warming things up quite a bit. It was a bit tough lying on a blanket up there, so we decided to get up and take a swim. The tide was low, revealing a small beach just a few hundred meters from the boat. Luckily, we had put on shoes because the seabed was really soft and felt a bit like a muddy lake bottom, which wasn’t pleasant to walk on. Back on the boat, we climbed up to the roof to dry off in the sun. We had breakfast while the boat continued its journey. We stopped at a little lagoon where you could swim through a small entrance. Many people jumped into the water to swim into the lagoon, but we didn’t feel like it after spotting a bunch of jellyfish. Instead, we rented a tiny bamboo boat for 15,000 dong per person, which took us through. The lagoon was stunning, and at high tide, you could dive in to get inside. We had a nice long ride back to the harbor, lounging on the roof and soaking up the sun. Our guide came up to check if we were satisfied with the trip. We also had time to ask a few more questions. She explained that Vietnamese people don’t say “hello” but rather “where are you going?” This clarified the shouting we had perceived as quite rude. We had just encountered a cultural difference in how people express themselves. Another way to say “hello” in English would be “how many bowls of rice have you had today?” Our guide, Chang, is getting married in December because a fortune teller said it’s a good time for them to tie the knot. Once she gets married, she won’t have to work anymore. Her fiancé also works for a travel company, but he’ll continue working after they get married since he earns more—men usually earn more than women. Chang makes 20 USD a day. When we reached the mainland, we were taken to a restaurant for lunch. After that, we had a 3 ½ hour bus ride ahead of us to Hanoi. We decided to stay at the “Sports Hotel” again, where we managed to haggle the price down to 8 USD. It was time to burn some new CDs and clear out our flash drives. It cost 100,000 dong for two CDs. In the evening, we headed down to the bar street for dinner and a pub crawl. We visited “Amazone Bar,” “Karaoke,” and “Funky Monky.”