20-Aug-2006 -- Leaving the confluence of 20N 106E, we continued our trip by heading back to the Northern direction, passing through the small town of Phat Diem that is inside the largest Christian community in the northern area of Vietnam. Having a break at Phat Diem, we had lunch then visited the Stone Church until around 2.00PM before continuing to conquer the 21N 107E.

Highway 10 is the connecting way among coastal provinces in the northern area of Vietnam. In succession we went through Thanh Hoa, Ninh Binh, Nam Ha, Thai Binh, Hai Phong and Quang Ninh provinces. When leaving Phat Diem, we could go along the highway 10 but turned to the way going through Do Muoi ferry to see the water in flooding season and the turbid red river of alluvium. We had to spend for 90 minutes queuing for passing the river by ferry. Arriving to Halong area at 7 pm, we went down a boat house having dinner and congratulating the successful day. The seafood were delicious, the atmosphere was comfortable. Such a wonderful evening! We stayed over night at New World hotel located just by the sea of Halong bay, a world’s natural heritage.

We waked up at 7AM next morning. After having "Pho" (a traditional Vietnamese noodle soup) for breakfast, we went to the second destination. After a certain period of time going around roads in a bank of the river door, we dropped at a sandy exploiting plain which is 2km far from the point with the hope to be able to walk through the lagoon to reach it. It was lightly sunny and the landscape in the walking way was very beautiful. We walked along the trail of around 2 km surrounded by shrimp lagoon. When the trail nearly comes to its end we reach a position that’s about 140 m far from the confluence, which is located in the middle of water. Looking around to look for a means to reach the destination, we saw a bamboo boat that we can reach. Could not find the boat owner , we decided just to use it without permission. The boat is so small so just 5 out of our 9 went on the boat, Nakio and Eskimot09 controlled the boat like a pro. However, it’s not easy to fix the co-ordination on the water as the boat kept moving by the water flow. Anyhow we found the point at last. When tending to walk back to where the cars parked, the boat owner appeared. He had a bigger motorized boat and was willing to serve us for some cash. Then all 9 people went on this boat and touched again the point. So finally all of us really reached it. We also used the boat to get back to the cars.

So the 2nd target of 21N 107E had been reached. And we continue going to the last target of the trip, the 21N 106E confluence