41. The Awesomers and the beauty of nature

Businessmen, programmers, salesmen and Iuna. They are the think tank club calling themselves the Awesomers and once a month they meet trying to coach each other in their personal and professional life. They are a diverse and fascinating group of people of different ages, nationalities and stages in life. They are also completely crazy. There is a thin line between genius and insanity.

They had since long booked a two day cruise in Halong Bay and I tagged along. Even though the Vietnam weather still was overcast and the temperature a horribly cold 20 degrees Celsius the beauty of this place is absolutely stunning. My camera worked hard as I tried to capture everything I saw, smelled and felt. I failed as usual, maybe I need to buy a more expensive camera. Yes, I think that’s it.

After a few hours of cruising around Halong Bay the ship threw anchor in an area obviously set up for tourists. Locals, who seem to be living out here permanently in small house boats, were rowing around in their rowing boats trying to sell snacks and soda for outrageous prices. This particular area is probably popular due to a grand cave embedded in one of the limestone cliffs. The day ended with 30 minutes of canoeing, a nice experience much because of the life-jacket, which finally managed to warm me up a little bit. 20 degrees is freezing cold!

In the evening the beers started to pour, beer is really a common denominator among almost all human beings, and the number one Asian past time activity began: Karaoke! I managed to hold my own in this group, for some reason it seems like we who have computer related jobs are slightly worse singers than others, but that is just a personal observation, not a fact.

The Awesomers are brainstorming.

 Cruise ships on their way.

 From the railing.

 Click the picture for a larger view.

Can you feel it?

 Cave.

It's pretty big.

 View from the cave entrance. Click picture for larger view.

 Bearded man in kayak.