Ha Long Bay...

Arrived in Hanoi early Monday morning, booked reluctantly in to this hotel where we got dropped off as we were all knacked. the first order of the day was for me and Seb to suss out prices for a boat trip into ha long bay. after searching round many agents we settled on spending a bit more money to get a nicer boat and hotel. so we went ahead after a bit of a discussion with Jo and Jude and booked a three day tour to start Tuesday. which meant we could be back in Hanoi for Jo's birthday and give Seb plenty of time before he flew back to bangkok the day after.

Day 1 -We started bright and breezy Tuesday morning getting picked up at 8am. it was a 3hour bus journey to ha long city which meant we arrive around lunch. after a very nice seafood lunch on the boat we set sail! after sailing through the mass of beautiful islands we reached of first activity of the day. which was the amazing/surprising cave (the vietnamese word can mean both). this was spectacular and absolutely huge! i hope u can get an idea of the size in the pictures. after the cave we got to do a bit of kayaking which was..though we weren't aloud to capsize...which kinda ruined our plans of playing pirates! but hey we got to kayak into a "pond" (well bit like a fjord) only accessible through a cave like entrance. we then ended the day with a bit of leisurely swimming before another superb seafood tea..followed by a few cheeky beers.

Day 2 -Again another early start, after another superb meal on the boat we head through the maze of islands to the cat ba island where we left our posh "junk" boat / hotel. we then got a minibus to a harbor where we got another boat this time a small cruiser to take us around for the day. first stop was a beach where we had a swim then had a BBQ seafood lunch..before heading off to the national park. where we hired bicycles and had a short ride round the countryside followed by a short jungle trek. after getting back on the boat we got taken to cat ba. where we checked into our hotel for the evening.. had lunch and then went out drinking with all of our new friends we had met on the trip to celebrate Jo's birthday.

Day 3 -today after a buffet lunch in our luxurious hotel we got a bus back to our original boat to start our journey back to Hanoi. after stopping off for lunch we arrived back in Hanoi at 4pm.

Hope everyone is well! gotta go celebrate Jo's actual birthday nows, planned to meet everyone from the trip in 10 mins.

Dave