Train from Lao Cai arrived at 5:45 instead of 5:00 as advertised - this is the first time when a transportation is late. Glad that we didn't have to catch a plane or something this time. Instead we made our way to a hotel nearby that we had picked out in advance, before we went to Sapa. The guy at the reception did not speak any English, but luckily he checked us right in and we agreed the price for 2 nights - no extra charge for early check-in as far as we could foresee by the numbers he was writing down.
Since neither of us got any sleep at the train, we slept for 3 hours and then went to town. Our first task for the day was to find Hong Kong Airlines office so we could change Riinas plain ticket since the flight time was changed. That task was easy as the ticketing office was quite close to our hotel. Next we ate as we were both starving and then another task was to find a tour for me for 14th that would head south.
I will travel south on my own on the 14th as Riina will be flying home the same morning. Finding the right tour was much more complicated than I would have thought - there are travel agencies everywhere and the prices vary for a 3 day tour from 45 to 220 USD. So try to catch one that seems suitable and where they actually have a service and decent rooms and so on. I finally settled for one medium priced one and arranged an extra day on Cat Ba island. So the plan now is:
13.09 - will spend the day in Hanoi, just looking around the town - last day together with Riina
14.09 - will head south with a tour to Halong Bay for 4 days, first day covers Sung Sot cave, Titov island and kayaking - sleeping at a boat somewhere on the sea between the islands :)
15.09 - second tour day covers Thien Long cave, some boating on canals and wild Turtle island - sleeping in a hotel on Cat Ba island
16.09 - third tour day I will be on my own on Cat Ba island (please make it so that there are pretty beaches there :D)
17.09 - last, fourth tour day we will be taken back to the coast and others will head back to Hanoi, but I will try to catch a bus from Halong City to Haiphong and will try to stay a day in Haiphong.
Most likely I won't bring my computer to the tour so I won't be posting for a while, but I'm not sure yet, just giving an early warning so you will not worry. I will definitely have my phone with me so if something urgent comes up I can always SMS to family (if there is network coverage of course). So but basically don't worry and talk to you again after the 17th :)
Lots of hugs to all of you!
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