Ha Long - Day Two (The great 7up robbery)

Very dehydrated ... at about 5 am I left my cabin walked around the outside of the boat in the darkness until I found the unlocked galley door. I looked about for water or anything, but could see very little. Soon I saw the bar fridge ...I made my way over to it in the dim light. I could see a 7Up can looking at me ... it called to me... "Darren drink me, I will heal you!".

I succumbed to the temptation and reached to open the door. As I opened the fridge door, a dozen or so teaspoons clattered onto the wooden deck. Suddenly four heads popped up from around the galley.
Yes ... you guess it ! ... The staff were sleeping in the same room on floors or couches (which I had not noticed as I crept in), and had placed a number of the spoons into the seal of the fridge door to catch anyone who may try and heal themselves with a free refreshing can of 7 Up. What bad luck I have :-)
I got a hell of a fright. If I had not been crapping all night I would most certainly have unloaded it right then and there!
So here is me as white as a ghost, standing there in a ships galley looking as guilty as hell with eyes open as wide as saucers ... it was quite funny really.
Soon the can was on my account, and the crew all slipped back into their sleeping spots.
As the can had promised ... I was soon feeling much better.

During breakfast an empty envelope was put in front of us all and it was labelled "Happy tips for crew" we all thought that that was sort that was very funny.
I ate nothing at all - my appetite was very low by now.

After breakfast I was told I would be separated from my group (call them Group 1) and doing a different tour to everybody else and... it sounded like I would be doing the same stuff that i did yesterday (Kayaking and swimming). All of the other people on the boat would be leaving at midday (back to Hanoi)  so I was told I had a different agenda for the last half of the day. However I was disappointed then I paid for an extra day and the travel company use that day to repeat the activities.

As a result I had quite a heated argument with the host on the boat. The rest if the boat left to do their tour. I was finally picked up about 9 am and taken with a small group (4 kiwis and some poms) kayaking and a cruising around some islands. The others on this new boat were also disappointed a bit. Some had paid twice what I had and got to see even less. People were even told not to discuss what they had paid with other guests .. I thought that was shocking. Of course that made everybody do just that.

As it turned out we had quite a good day with more rest, and freedom to explore with the kayaks.
At one point we were allowed to go explore by ourselves in the Kayaks. When a couple of us got back we could not board the ship, as the crew were asleep and there was nobody to lower the ladder ... so we all buggered of for a while longer in the Kayaks.



I'm feeling much better by now. Still a little cautious on the eating, but grateful it has not impacted my trip much...early to bed tonight though lol.

I was dropped back at the main ship about 4pm. All the staff were asleep, and I'm the only guest on board by now. Apparently a new load of guests will fill the vacant rooms this evening I was told.

I learned a lot about how the police basically own and run the whole bay today. The communist model is very odd and dodgy. It was a great discussion alone with one of the younger bar staff who had left his wife and child in Saigon to come up and work for six months n the boats.
I can understand more about the pressure on tourists to pay them, due to the volume of funds that go back to the govt. (US$150 per boat per night). Plus a healthy share of all guest charges etc etc.
Many of the boats appeared to be owned by senior communist party leaders etc.

More people did arrive later that evening. I went and met some of them and had a small dinner with hem all. I kind of felt like a captain welcoming them all onto my ship ... it was a bit bizarre really.