Day 72 Thursday 19th November 2009

Johno says

Our transfer to the harbour at Halong Bay went reasonably quickly. Halong Bay basically consists of 2,000 Islands and was designated a world heritage site in 1994. Once we arrived we were taken to our Junk (luxury Chinese style boat) where we would sleep tonight amongst the Islands out at sea. The boat was really comfortable with our cabin having a hot shower and large bed, better than some of the hotels that we have stayed in! Lunch consisted of fresh seafood, vegetables and rice. We sailed out into the Islands and after lunch we were taken to 'Hang Song Sot' Cave which had three huge chambers via a hike up some steps. After the walk around the cave we tried to buy a drink from a floating shop - failed miserably, we needed to point at what we wanted and the lady just couldn't understand so we gave up and thought that we would just wait until we were back on the boat. Just before sunset we went out on a kayak for a leisurely paddle around a couple of the Islands and the floating villages nearby - the views were just brilliant!! The evening was spent with the Americans playing psychological card games including a few games of 'Mafia' or 'Werewolf' until late, it was a good laugh especially when you chuck a serious guy from Holland into the mix!! Legend. How he knew I was the werewolf I do not know!!

Day 73 Friday 20th November 2009

Johno says

Cracked on with a bit of a lay in today. After our breakfast we ventured to Cat Ba Island, the largest Island in Halong Bay. The boat stopped off at a small harbour, picked up a mountain bike and went off on a 3km ride to a nearby village with local houses that were built of wood and mud, we got friendly with a kitten and puppy that were laying together for warmth in a local restaurant. We then trekked for an hour into tropical forest, on the way we spotted some poisonous animals including stick insects and took a look at a cave which was used by the local people during the American War. Our 3km bike ride back to the harbour didn't seem too bad knowing that we had our lunch waiting for us on the boat. We then visited Monkey Island which offered serious competition to the Monkey Island that we went to near Phi Phi Island in Thailand. Our Hotel was in Cat Ba Town and is pretty comfortable with it being around 7 floors higher than the rest so there are some good views out to sea and across the town - plus, the hotel shouldn't be too hard to find after Stacey's celebratory birthday drinks tomorrow evening…

Day 74 Saturday 21st November 2009
Stacey says
Waking up bright eyed and busy tailed for my birthday, I opened some small gifts Steve had picked up for me, a wooden frog from Thailand, to go with the sellers hat we bought! and some pearl studs (made in Halong Bay apparently!). We then took a walk over to the beach, it was a little warmer today, so it was nice to lounge around after a very busy week. The hotel resort just on the beach had leaflets lying around for spa packages, so Steve treated me and himself to a Vietnamese massage. Which we went and had in the afternoon, it was different to the thai massages we'd got used to, they concentrate more on joints this time, using their feet too! We then went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. Dinner was amazing, we went to a restaurant, Green Mango, recommended in the guide book. I picked the steak with mustard mash and Steve picked the Salmon with wasabi mash, both jealous of each others, so we ate half and swapped half way through. They were absolutely delicious! Then went back to Blue Note bar where the bar manager had some flowers and Choco Pie cake waiting for me. Steve treated me to some very strong Long Island Ice Tea cocktails, and we were able to play our own music from the ipods.
Day 75 Sunday 22nd November 2009
Stacey says
Very early start today, travelled back to Hanoi, arriving at 5.30pm, where our night sleeper bus to Hye (pronounced Hway) was waiting for us, which left about 6pm. The sleeper bus was a real surprise, it managed to pack in room for 36 people to sleep, all bunk beds. Was actually fairly comfortable! Which was good as we were to be on here until 8am!