Halong bay, Vietnam:

The following morning we organised a trip to Halong bay, an early start, the mini bus was picking us up at 6.30am. We finally arrived to the port after a short 2 hour transfer and boarded our boat which would be our home for the next day or so.  The boat was fantastic, and our rooms had en suite bathrooms... All very cool.  We set off for Halong bay and words alone cannot do it justice, it's a natural wonder. It looked like something out of Jurassic park, majestic scenes where 300 islands rise from the emerald waters of the gulf of Tonkin. Halong bay is looking to become the 8th natural wonder of the world. We spent the afternoon on the boat sailing around the various islands, swimming in the water, jumping off the top of the boat in the water, and exploring the various caves by kayak. We ate dinner on the boat as the sun was setting, and then hit our onboard beds for a well earnt kip. Awesome day.

The following morning we awoke at just before 6am to watch the sunrise over the Halong bay islands from the deck of the boat, then with a hearty breakfast inside of us we cruised for 3 or 4 hours back towards the port of Halong city for before catching our transfer back to Hanoi.  We arrived back in Hanoi for about 5pm before grabbing a few beers along with people and motorbike watching on one of the main junctions in Hanoi.  Our next plan was to head down to hue which was about 500km south of Hanoi, in order to do this we decided that the evening sleeper bus would do the trick and provide us with an experience, the bus would depart at 8pm and arrive in Hue at 8am the following morning.

It is at this point that I would like to mention something about AM. Now, I always joked about her ability to 'fall asleep on a washing line', however I was only mostly winding her up. I have come the conclusion that it is infact true.... I think she may have narcolepsy!!  Literally, getting into a mini bus/car/plane/boat in searing 90 degree heat, within 5 mins of being on some mode of transport she has this ability to fall asleep, soundo, out cold, mouth open, snoring and dribbling, I know my chat is pretty lame but still...