We had been in Hanoi for three days when we decided it was time to take our first little trip away from the northern capital. We booked a three-day trip to Halong Bay to sail around the bay and check out the scenery. It was very beautiful, but cold and foggy the whole time.

There were 14 people in total on our trip. A lot of them were snotty French and German travellers who couldn't be bothered to give us the time of day, but we did spend time with a lovely British couple. Over all, the trip was a little depressing due to the weather and a huge roach problem in our room on the boat the first night. Never agree to take a room with a false wall attached to the kitchen. The second night we slept up in the Bridge; the helm made things a little squishy, but at least we couldn't hear or feel the cockroaches scuttling around.

The staff seemed to take to us, and we got to have private cooking lessons where the kitchen staff taught us to make and roll our own spring rolls. The technique was going to take a little practice, and while they weren't pretty to look at, they were certainly tasty enough.

The limestone cliffs were everything that we had hoped they would be, and we also got to see our first phosphorescence. They were like stars in the water! Since no one was willing to brave the cold waters for a dip at 2:00am we had to improvise. This was done by making a good use of our saliva glands. There's nothing quite like seeing a puddle of spit sparkle in the water.

We had an interesting time, but were very happy to get back to Hanoi and the ornery staff at our guest house.