Andy's birthday – a day in the van and at the airport - 25th Jan

Happy Birthday Andy

Happy Birthday Andy

We woke at 8am and Andy opened his birthday cards. Then we got up and had a coffee on deck with the others. I'd mentioned to Dai about Top Gear coming to Halong Bay and he seemed to know the floating bar they'd gone to and asked the driver of the boat to take us back to port via there. When we passed it neither Andy nor I were convinced it was the same place but we went along with it anyway.

Top Gear Bar ????

We had brunch at 10.30am which again was a 10 course feast. They served a mix of breakfast and lunch together but yum yum – delicious. We docked about 11.30am and were transferred straight onto the minibus. The itinerary for today was quite disappointing as the only thing left to do was take us to the airport – 4 hours away – for an 8.00pm flight.

On route we required a 'not in the itinerary' toilet break and Dai was forced to take us to a pottery show house which had western toilets. It was still touristy with girls painting pottery and tourists leaning right over them taking photos. However the show house had some beautiful items and I could have easily bought a whole dinner set there.

Ten minutes later we had to stop at the scheduled 'on the itinerary' toilet stop which was back at the Tapestry Centre we'd passed on the way to Halong Bay. This was met with frustration but we were told the driver needed his lunch. I didn't like it here at all as again we were followed round by an assistant and the whole place felt more like a complete tourist trap rather than a charity supporting the disabled.

After we set off again it was only early afternoon and too early to get to the airport so Dai offered to take us on a walk through a village. This was nice to do - it was a quiet village but good to stretch our legs. We kept seeing some children peering round corners and watching us then hiding quickly when we waved at them. We also saw a big Catholic church which was unusual as the population is predominantly Buddhist.

 

Houses only ever decorated at the front

A light load ???

Chickens

We got to the airport four hours before our flight. We wasted some time in a bar with some drinks, chatted and read our books. When we checked our bags in there was still a good hour and a half before the flight was due to take off and so rather than go through to the lounge Andy and I went back to the restaurant for a bowl of noodle soup. It was really tasty and nice to have a bit of time to ourselves on Andy's birthday.

Airport Restaurant

The plane took off on time and we flew to Hue for stage 2 of our Vietnamese tour.