Suffering from the nights episode I skipped breakfast for an extra half hour in bed, but as I wanted to see the next itinerary item, the caves, I missioned through. Some sweets, plenty of water and I was back in the fold, for now.
A slightly longer boat journey to a nearby rock, followed by a 150 step climb to the cavern mouth and we were back in full swing.
We stuck to the marked path and heard a detailed commentary about how some rocks looked like monkeys or turtles.
I took a bunch of photos, seeing if the low light capabilities of the camera were any good, and also bought the mandatory location fridge magnet. I was impressed... With the camera. My fridge is also looking pretty good now.
We had a quick lunch on the boat followed by the journey back, under what turned out to be excellent weather. The thunderstorms didn't hit us until we were back on dry land. It was an incredibly relaxing boat journey back, with some much clearer skies than on the way out.
We visited a pearl farm on the way back to Hanoi, and although it was an optional extra we were happy to go to, it smelled of the usual "local craftsmen" tourist trap that so many tour groups inadvertently subscribe to, so we did receive a hands-on demonstration of how pearls were made.
Back in Hanoi we were given 3hrs until we set off for Hanoi train station for the next leg of our journey. We chose the time to walk to the Tran Quoc Pagoda.. There and back was just over two hours, in intermittent rain. Our road crossing game is now stronger than ever.
We boarded our train station at about 1830hrs with an anticipated arrival time in Hue of 0800hrs the next morning. The setup was 4 beds in each room, double bunks, with a small table near the window, luggage storage above the doorway and of course a USB charging point at the head of each bed. Surprisingly there was free usable WiFi throughout the train, something unheard of on most western trains. There was a toilet at the end of each carriage, the bowl almost filled to the brim with water. It became a skill test not to get toilet water over my feet whilst the train moved.
The trip was self catered, so our G Adventures CEO organised some takeaway food from Hungry Hanoi. I've been more or less living on dried mango since my illness this morning. Hard to believe so much has happened in one day! Food was welcome though, plus it went down very easily.
There was a fairly frequent and competitively priced food and alcohol cart that made the rounds and I was told there was a restaurant carriage, but still sensitive from the boat I got my head down under the very aggressive and humid air conditioning unit.
