Halong Bay

What a place! Along with the Great Wall this was a highlight of our trip so far.

We checked out of the Hotel early and headed to the 'Sinh Cafe' or 'Sinh Tourist' as its also known (who we also booked our bus ticket with). A quick mention has to go in about the hotel...they were overly nice the whole time we were there and we thought there were going to bite us in the behind somewhere along the line but they didn't! I had some odd conversations with them -they kept asking for my opinion and reminding me about the taxi pickup. I wasn't sure what to say but the words...'I'll leave a good review' seemed to work.

Got to Singh Cafe at 7.30 but bus didn't leave til 8.30! Lost lie in time. We put trust in the place and left our bags in the shop overnight whilst we went to Halong Bay. On the way we stopped off at a souvenier shop with the women blasting out the 2 English words they learnt - 'Ice-cream, pllleeeaaaasssseeee' ! No thanks, not for breakfast anyway!

We got on the Junk (not a heap of junk - thats what the boats are called!) about 1ish and were pretty pleased with what we got. We had a pretty large double room (as we stayed 1 night) with a bathroom. We had lunch straight away and sat with a couple from Belgium (does that make them Belgianese?!) Lucky they spoke the international language anyway. The food was great and better than expected with fresh fish and noodle spring rolls as well as the ever reliable boiled rice! From the mainland its quite hazy and far away so as we got closer the view got better and better. We then found a route in and we were surrounded by Limestone rocks pointing out of the sea.

We got some amazing pictures as the weather was great, the best ones are at the bottom.

Our first stop was Me Chung Titop Caves. The guide showed us around. He had a very imaginative mind and was pointing out rocks that looked that animals but we couldn't see it. It was lit up well and was a good stop as we got good photos at the top.

We then went Kayaking which Emma was very exited about, not sure why though, as it was odds on she was going to fall in. Luckily for her it was a 2 berth Kayak and I was there to steady the ship. The guide came with us as there was 1 girl on our own and we were glad he did. We went to a lagoon only accessible by low boat, ie kayaks which was amazing. We just sat there for about 10 minutes in silent, enjoying the view, the sunshine and the silence, something which we havn't had for 3 weeks!

We anchored up with other boats and enjoyed the sunset. We then went for a swim as it went dark which was so nice. The water was so warm but salty. This did however allow Emma to float on her back for the first time, yay go girl!

We showered and had another nice dinner and made awkward conversation with the Belgium couple over a few beers! After a suprisingly great sleep we had breaksfast and made our way out of the Rocks and back to the shore. We went back a different way taking in more great views including Cat Ba island. The guide showed us some more rocks which looked like fighting hens and/or kissing rocks. Again, we didn't see it!

We had lunch at the Harbour with grabby people who didn't speak and couldn't use chopsticks or a fork for that matter! grrr.

On arrival in Hanoi we were pleased to see that our bags were still there! We got taken to the night bus wondering what to expect. We were greeted by a few men underneath the bus, but luckily they were only changing the wheel! The bus as 3 rows of bunkbeds which were really comfy. However...Cockroaches, they were only small and it wasn't as bad as it sounded but we were watching out until we went to sleep! The lights went out at 9.30pm but as the driver beeped his horn at everything in front of him we thought we were in for a rough night. However We both got a great night sleep despite the appalling smell of the Ozzie ladies feet who slept above us!