We were picked up in a mini bus early morning time after a quick breakfast of fried eggs and baguettes. Unfortuately, the weather was a little overcast which was disappointing but not the end of the world. It was a 4 hour mini bus journey to the Halong Bay marina. In this time, we were introduced to the rest of our group, approximately 15 of us in total, and our host, Tommy. His english was more on the broken side but he was the happiest of chappies, which was the main thing!
On arrival at the Marina, we were loaded onto a smaller boat which took us straight to our big boat and accomodation for that night. The Monkey Island boat was beautiful! Just to add to the positiviy, we were given a free upgrade to the suite with a balcony which again was just stunning! What an amazing way to start our trip. The food provided on board was incredible too. We got to know some of our new trip buddies a lot better and after lunch, we visited a large cave which was pretty similar to the Paradise cave in Phang Nha but not quite as good and absolutely rammed with people. Next, the boat crew took us to a beach where we hiked to the top of To Tip Mountain via hundreds of steep steps where we experienced the most amazing view of Ha Long Bay. That night, dinner was just as good as lunch and we finished the night off sat on our balcony while it was still twlight with a glass of baileys on ice each. We discussed our favourite parts of the trip so far (which I love doing), I cant get over just how much we've done!
The next morning, we had a lie in while the rest of the group went out in the freezing cold overcast morning to do some kayaking. A lie in was much more valuable to us at that moment. After breakfast, we made our way to Monkey Island Resort. We sailed to another marina where we were driven across Cat Ba Island to another Marina where we got a much smaller boat to the resort. It was a shame the weather wasn't better as the beach looked stunning but it was just a tad cold to be sat out enjoying it. We were met at the reception with a gorgeous cup of honey and ginger tea, and then shown to our rooms. Matt and I had paid for an upgrade to the Sea View bungalows which were stunning, and much better than the Garden View bungalows so we were chuffed with our decision. 
We met some of the group including a guy called Alex from Canada on the beach for a game of volleyball. A large bottle of rum was involved so before we knew it, we were taking shots for everytime the ball was dropped...I had no hope! Later that afternoon, we hiked/rockclimbed to Monkey Beach over the other side of the Island. There were indeed lots of monkeys there but we were warned by the locals not to get to close as they could be quite aggressive. I've had quite a few previous encounters with monkeys especially in India so I was fairly dubious of them anyway. Alex, being howling drunk, ran head on towards the group of monkeys in which we all shouted at him not to! He ignored every single one of us and carried on. I was half expecting him to be mauled by the group of 'savages' looking on at him running straight for them but instead they just looked at him very calmly, and after 10 minutes, they were eating banana out of his hands and he was shouting commands at them in which they would obey...what the hell?! His new nickname which he loved, 'Alex, King of the Monkeys!'.
That evening, before dinner, myself, Matt, Julian and Baz sat in a cute seating area that over looked our resort and drank cans of Tiger beer. Dinner that evening was propably one of the best meals we've had since being in Vietnam, pretty much everyone there agreed! They played some head banging music around a camp fire, which didn't quite fit the vibe, but was quirky all the same. We finished the night sat chatting overlooking the party for a while before sinking into the most comfortable bed in our bungalow. It's amazing how much you appreciate a nice comfortable bed after sleeping on so many bad ones.
The next morning, following breakfast, we started our journey back. We were very lucky that the sun decided to make an appearance for our last day so we managed to experience Halong at its best. We really had experienced the most amazing time during our stay in Halong bay, we won't be forgetting this trip in a very long time...just perfect!