Day 10 Another early start (we cant believe it either!) Breakfast to go and picked up by minibus to get to Halong Bay. The traffic was insane most of the way but the journey went quite quickly. 2 hours in and we stopped at an ornament garden centre and hope our parents like the 7ft elephant water fountains we have had shipped home - payment on arrival! Hahaha. 2 hours later and we arrive at Halong Bay. Wow. Even from the port the views were amazing. We got on board the Phoenix Cruiser junk boat - there were ten cabins and luckily all the other people to also get on the boat were good fun. We made some Ozzie mates - even though Ryans numerous ozzie jokes went down like lead balloons! The cabins were lovely and the food was tasty. We sailed through Halong Bay and took in the sights. Once again the pictures when uploaded will show it better than we could ever describe. Halong Bay is geology gone crazy (Ryans line!) and just incredible. We visited a cave called suprising cave and well it was ... suprising! So huge. Next we went kayaking. Well, we caused a scene getting into the thing, a bigger scene getting out and caused a traffic jam of large boats as we paddled the wrong way. It was great fun and once we got the hang of it we were pretty damn good - Ask the two kids we whooped in a race! Another great and busy day. Nice to be away from city life and see the real beauty of Vietnam. The dinner was amazing on board and included octopus, squid, shrimps, clams and crabs. A seafood feast. After dinner the party started and the vietnamese karaoke machine unleashed. The permanent mic echo meant some interesting performances were given. Ryans version of 'Its not unusual' along with the Danish guys 'Billie Jean' were in the running for performance of the night until a ten year old wiped the floor with a Metallica song!! Vietnamese songs by the staff were pretty painful to say the least. A fun and random night to follow an amazing day. Day 11 After a nights sleep on the sea the views were awesome to wake up to. Up at 7am for breakfast (although everyone else still beat us to the dining room - keen beans!). We changed to a smaller boat with a few others and carried on sailing through the bay. Sat on the roof gave some amazing views and there were no other tourist boats in sight. We sailed through a local floating fishing village which was cool. In the afternoon we docked at Cat Ba island. It is the only inhabitated island in the bay and looks like its from Jurassic Park, although we are yet to see a dinosaur. Again, only the pics can do it justice. Whilst exploring the island and beaches we were stopped by Vietnamese tourists to pose for pictures. Beginning to think we look famous ... or just plain stupid! The evening was a relatively calm affair with a nice meal and a few beers on the harbour. We then headed to Blue note - a locals bar where cocktails are served with only alcohol - no juice. We were greeted with some free shots of rice wine and later after seeing the bottle its made in wished we'd declined! Amanda however, in not one of her brightest moments decided to try snake wine .... exactly what it says on the tin - dead snakes in wine. A vietnamese speciality and her face was a picture. The headache that followed makes me think she won't be having another! To get over the shock a local kindly provided a massage and clicked every bone in her body! Again, i don't think a repeat will happen anytime soon. I however was very sensible for a change - I think it's because the Thailand hangover memory is still raw. On Cat Ba island there were very nice people and few tourists (although likely to change as there are big building projects going on everywhere) and definately worth the trip. Day 12 ANOTHER early start. We will need a month to get over this! At breakfast by 7 and back aboard the boat by 8. A morning spent crusing Halong bay and the afternoon spent travelling back to Hanoi. Once again we stopped half way back in the garden centre ornament place. When checking our elephant fountain orders had been prepared and sent we managed to nearly miss our bus back. The guide was having palpatations and the French man kicking off with our few minutes delay! Back to Hanoi and the madness hits us. This place should come with a health warning! Anyway, off to explore the city some more and aslong as we don't get mowed by motorbikes we are heading for Kuala Lumpar tomorrow morning for the final part of the trip. Awesome.