My blog

Pho soup is a must for breakfast. This time in the Bo version - with chicken. Just as good as with beef.
I went for a short walk around Hanoi and saw with my own eyes: they all ate the same thing for breakfast here as I did.
At eight-thirty, a shuttle bus arrived at my hotel to take me to Fallen Dragon Bay, or Ha Long, some 160 kilometers away, where I had booked a cruise a few days ago.
I am aware that as soon as my neighbor from Chyliczki - Maciej, who is a specialist and practitioner in the field of forty-day cruises on floating Mokotów galleries in various parts of the world, finds out that I called my three-day expedition on a thirty-five-seater ship a cruise, he will not stop laughing for a week. However, as soon as he sees the photos of the sunset - he will immediately want to come here.
After a three-hour drive from Hanoi, we were settled into our cabins and immediately enjoyed the view of the bay. Locals say that Ha Long is the first item on the new list of seven wonders of the world. And I would agree with them.
The fellow passengers were: 3 Swedish students, 4 Germans, 4 Spaniards, 1 seventy-year-old British man with 1 young Vietnamese woman, 2 Canadians, 1 Pole (me), and the rest were young Americans.
For lunch, I sat down at a table with two Spanish couples a little younger than me. We had a bit of a communication problem, because only one of the women spoke English and one of the men spoke German. But somehow we managed. After two meals together, I'm starting to understand Spanish.
After lunch we fed the monkeys and explored the huge cave. Then happy hour and a phenomenal sunset that was really worth coming here for.
For dinner, a salad of some seaweed, squid in breadcrumbs, fish in sauce, beef with vegetables, grilled shrimp, spinach, bananas in syrup. Delicious and I gorged myself like I don't know.
After dinner, anyone who wanted could catch squid. I didn't want to, but I went to see how it was done. It's not difficult, because they fly to the light like moths. You just have to shine a flashlight and move the rod with a colorful piece of plastic with a hook attached to it. An American from Colorado caught one and when he took it off the hook it peed ink right on my best shirt. The Yankee apologized, and as punishment he promised to prepare me his catch.
Fortunately, the ink washes out quite easily.

The captain of our cruise, before falling asleep yesterday, encouraged everyone to watch the sunrise in Halong Bay. So I got up at six, as it turned out, I was the only one. However, the sun had already risen long ago and was hidden behind the clouds.
At six thirty, as did the hundred ships moored alongside us, Tai Chi classes began. I'd never done anything like it before - it's more like dance than gymnastics, but I have to admit, it's energizing.
Breakfast at seven. Unfortunately, no Asian soup, so I had to stop being offended by eggs and bacon.
At eight-thirty we were divided into two groups: the first with tourists who had purchased a one-day cruise, and the second with two Spaniards, two Englishmen and me - tourists with two nights on the ship.
Our ship had sailed to take away overnight tourists and bring in new ones, and we found ourselves on a smaller boat, where we would spend our day today. This is more or less how the Vietnamese tourism industry is organized.
Our new nanny initially assumed that I was married to a Spanish woman and that the Spanish man was our child. And when we told her that I was single here, I had to tell her where my wife was, why I was here alone, and what the children thought.
Sun, visit to the cave, lunch on the boat, visit to the floating village and pearl farm.
At 4 p.m. we were back on our mother boat, filled with new tourists: this time from the Philippines, Brazil, England and the States.
A fancy dinner, then sips - that's what the locals call Red Label, and at the end of the day I caught two squid - so small that they were threads from the grill.

Today I decided to skip my morning Tai Chi class and sleep in a bit longer.
The schedule of the last day on the ship was as tight as a sheep's egg: breakfast at seven, climbing to a hundred-meter island to take a few postcard photos at eight, swimming at the only beach at nine, showering and checking out of the cabin at ten, early dinner at eleven - all so that at twelve the ship could be emptied of several-day tourists and then filled with fresh tourists brought from Hanoi. The Vietnamese tourist company operates with Swiss precision. Unfortunately, this is the only way to see one of the wonders of the world - Ha Long Bay.
After a three-hour journey to Hanoi, complete with a pee stop during which we had the rare opportunity to stock up on hand-embroidered Buddha paintings and figurines, I said goodbye to my Spanish friends who were taking the thirteen-hour train journey to Saigon.
I had the prospect of spending the night at the airport and on the plane - as it turned out a few days ago, I made a mistake in booking a flight to Seoul and instead of 1:45 pm, I booked a flight for 1:45 am. However, this was the only mistake so far, and considering the number of hotel and flight reservations recently, it is quite a good result.
Six hours to explore Hanoi is a bit short, but I managed to see quite a lot: the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum - it was already closed, but out of respect for the Great Leader, I would not have been allowed into this temple with a single exhibit in my clothes, the One Pillar Pagoda, the Temple of Literature, Hoam Kiem Lake and the Old Quarter.
I only regret that I didn't get to see the local relic - the wreck of an American B52 bomber shot down in 1972, but my motorcycle taxi driver got the destination wrong.
Hanoi is a fascinating city, full of scooters, street food and French restaurants. I will come back here for a longer stay someday.
For dinner I said goodbye to Vietnamese cuisine: spring rolls, Pho soup, Cha ca fish.
I chose the restaurant from TripAdvisor, which is my next Asian discovery. I went to the restaurant by rickshaw, of course - as befits a colonizer from Europe.