What a lazy day we've had. It was still slightly hazy but the sun came out from behind the clouds enabling us to top up our tans. So we headed towards the beach and spent 4 hours soaking up the sun. We decided to give swimming a miss having seen several jelly fish the size of dustbin lids!
We have noticed the locals are facinated by us, wanting to ask lots of questions - especially where we are from, what we do and how much we earn. They believe all westerners are rich and have problems in differentiating between backpackers on a budget and package holiday makers with money to burn. Understandable when they only earn VMD90,OO0 a day which may sound a lot but is the equivalent to 3 pounds!
There also seems to be a 2 tier pricing system, a price for the locals and another one for us, train tickets being a good exanple as we had to pay 3 times the local price for the same journey.
I felt giulty when I withdrew 33 pounds at the ATM last week and was a millianairess in Vietnamese Dong for a short time! The Vietnamese have so little compared to us.
We have been spending some time with the loacls trying to learn a few words and sampling the local food. Pomello, which is a cross between a grapefruit and an orange, which we both love. However we have avoided 'Thit Chow'....dog meat, which Steve point blank refuses to eat quoting mans best friend is not a meal.
The locals have taken to stroking Steve's arms! We concluded that hairy arms are a novelty, as are my boobs.........but I am glad go say they just look and don't touch me!
It's our last night in Cat Ba and then we are back in Hanoi tomorrow, meeting Mum on 29th.
Catch up soon when there will be 3 instead of 2 of us.
Thank you all for my 40th birthday wishes......will catch up and celebrate when I get home.
Lots of love Kay xxxxx
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