Stop! Police!

The next day B and Erik went scuba diving on one of the islands whilst the rest of us went on a boat tour of 4 islands. The boat tour included the opportunity to go snorkelling, lunch, swimming and a visit to the aquarium - for about $9. Sweet!

We were picked up at 830 to start the tour - Francois, myself and Shantelle. Unfortunately, as has been the case for most of the trip, Sophie was feeling unwell and so didn't go. Her loss really.

The tour group on the boat totalled 13 - some Vietnamese, some Germans, an Australian girl called Hayley and a British bloke called Peter. We became quite friendly and spent most of the day with them. Turns out she used to work as an activities director on Hamilton Island, and he was a journalist who had been working on the Gold Coast and now was undertaking an around the world trip back to the UK. They were lovely.

The boat was a kind of narrow thing with interesting wooden chairs that could be laid flat to make a table. It had a toilet on board but the door had a clear window and no lock. Couple that with the fact that it flushed via a ladle in a bucket, had no toilet papier and smelt absolutely diabolical, and you didn't really use it unless you absolutely had to. At least there was a curtain to cover the window for a bit of privacy.

The boat also had an upper deck so, seeing as it was a sunny day, we decided to go up and sunbathe whilst travelling along. All was well until about 15 minutes into our time the boat suddenly slows down and we observe water police having pulled alongside our ship. They inspected everything but fortunately all was in order - was this a random check or what was going on? Turns out they pulled us over because we had gone upstairs, and apparently you're not supposed to do that whilst the boat is moving!

Our first stop was to Mun island, or black rock island, where we did some snorkelling. The snorkelling was ok, nothing fancy but we did see some nice corals and actually some quite beautiful fish. Shanty was quite amusing as she really could not get the hang of breathing through the snorkel and kept drowning a little bit each time.

The next island was the lunch stop. This was most entertaining. The food was just beautiful, magnificent traditional Vietnamese food, and plenty of it - tofu and noodles, calamari, tiny crispy prawns, chicken, spring rolls and plenty of rice. What was funny though was the guy had put the chairs down in the middle of the boat to make one long table that we all sat around. The Vietnamese sat one side and the Westerners the other. The Westerners literally hoe'd into their food and it was gone pretty quick - and then the Vietnamese started pushing their left overs over to our side of the table for us to have!

After lunch the other two boats roped themselves up to ours and the entertainment began. Our guide, it turns out, was the lead singer in an inboard boy band, playing well known Vietnamese karaoke numbers where people just hopped up and sang songs (with his help). Suddenly he "volunteered" myself and Hayley to represent Australia! How embarrassing! So we had to do a rendition of "Down Under" - as if I actually know all the words - so the only thing to do was ham it up and go for gold, looking like a complete goose! I never been so embarrassed in all my life...

After the entertainment we then headed to the 3rd island for more swimming. This one had a private beach but rather than pay money to swim at an average looking beach we all decided to stay onboard and soak up some rays on the roof before we headed off to the 4th island, with the aquarium.

To be honest, I didn't think much of the aquarium, but some of the fish were interesting and it actually was a pretty little island once you headed out a bit. Some kids came past Francois and he took a picture of them, and they asked for money. They start so young...

All too soon the day was over and it was time to head back. Having already checked out we had a shower in the pool area and then as a group went to Lanterns for dinner. Our overnight train was leaving at 10pm to take us to Hoi An...