We have just returned from our 3 day trip to Ha Long bay and having been quite excited after reading about what was set for the itinerary its safe to say we were not dissappointed.

The trip started with a three hour air conditioned mini bus and already we were glad to have paid the extra money (we opted for a trip costing 62 usd as oppose to most charging around 45). when we got to the bay the sun was shinning and we were in luck as the previous couple of days there had been a washout. we were moved onto a boat which we were sharing with 10 other people and they were all pretty decent and talkative which always helps. once on the boat we soon got moving out to sea and our lunch was bought out, consisting of plenty of vietnamese cuisine, mostly fresh seafood, rice, pork, noodle soup etc and it was of a really high standard. we then traveled to the caves which were part of one of the islands and saw all the fascinating rock formations and stalagtites and mites. shortly after we sailed to a small beach and all went out to swim in the boiling water it was around 34 degrees whilst we were there and me and sam are starting to get a good tan now. we then went and moured up in the process hitting another boat a causing a massive hole in it (think our driver was either a learner or drunk for the whole trip!).

that night we all had dinner and went to the top deck of the boat with a couple of beers, within 5 mins paul, an irish chap in his late 20's travelling with his partner decided to take some photos off the boat, he went to pick up a table that was in the way. When he picked the table up the heavy marble top was in his hands but the sharp metal stand was not, as it was dark up there he didnt know and started to walk forward. He walked staight into the stand got his leg tangled and fell over with the satnd carving a pretty hefty chunk of his leg off. Fortunatly one of the girls on the boat was a first aider and we bandaged him up but he must have lost a ton of blood and (if your squemish look away now) a big chunk of flesh which we spent about 10 mins searching for to no aveil. we managed to get a speedboat to come and take him to the nearest hospital after struggling to lift him down the narrow stairs. All in all it was a pretty shocking and scary night but the last we heard he was being transfered back to hanoi hospital today and was ok. Needless to say we decided to call it a night then.

The next morning we woke early and changed boats then changed to a bus at Cat Ba island where we were taken to do a 3 hour trek through small jungle like forrests to some small mountain villages which was great. after that we checked into our hotel (3 star, the extra money really was worth it) and left our bags, we went back down to the boat and sailed off to some near islands and kayaked for the rest of the afternoon which was really good fun, were gonna give Ben a race when we get back!!. we went back to the hotel for another great seafood buffet dinner and then had an earlyish night after a quick beer.

We woke up early again this morning and had a great breakfast before checking out and going to the boat. we cruised around for a bit and me and sam took time to relax and read a little. at midday we got back to land had lunch and then returned back to Hanoi. we have checked into a decent standard hotel and have plans for activities for the next two days before our flight to bangkok.

We shall return with another blog before the flight tho just too let you know how the capital was! and on a side note videos cant be loaded up on these computers at the mo, more importantly tho sam acidently deleted the only good video on the camera of my famous sand sledding incident!! leaving one upset man typing on this keyboard. allthough im sure we will get many more vids in the future of far more extreme sports so its all good.

bye all Adam and Sam x