We woke up at 4am on Billy's birthday on the sleeper train. We got off the train in Hanoi and got straight onto a bus that would take us to Halong Bay along possibly the bumpiest road communism ever created. And that was one thing noticeable on the drive, that the buildings, vehicles, and industrial presence was more what we'd expected from a communist country, that had so far seemed to be a huge believer in capitalism. Plus it was raining.We arrived at the hotel at 7 and so had breakfast and waited for our rooms to be ready. 30 minutes turned into a 3 hour wait in the lobby. You could either laugh or cry after the journey that far.We took a boat ride at 12pm to Halong Bay and to see a cave there. It was incredible scenery, although slightly annoyingly it was a bit misty, but it was to be expected at that time of year. Overall we had mixed feelings about Halong Bay. It was beautiful, but it felt like a place built for the tourism that the beauty brought. And the way the cave had been paved, lit up and slapped with penguin dustbins added to the feeling. Nevertheless, it was an incredible thing to see and if you had time to get a faster boat and escape the armada that visits the islands near shore it would be much better. We got back and we went with Steve and an English girl on the tour called Chloe to reserve a table for dinner and organise a surprise birthday cake for Billy, as well as get him a Vietnam military style had and some snake wine ad presents. Dinner was really good and Billy seemed to really appreciate the thoughts from everyone, it was just a shame that there was no nightlife around to celebrate more.