We were really late getting ready because breakfast took 40mins as the guy who makes breakfast was still asleep in his hammock for 20 mins after breakfast was supposed to have started. This meant I went to the tour company whilst Dan checked out. We didnt like this hostel and tried to pay with a dodgy note that was two different notes taped together that other places wouldnt accept so Dan completely forgot to pick up our passports!!! He didnt remember until we were on the coach picking up other people and had to jump on the back of a motorbike and wizz back to get them........

Finally Dan came back to the van which was a relief and we continued onto halong bay which was about two hours drive. Some people were only going for the day which seemed pointless for how long the drive is to and from Hanoi. Our guide was a nice Vietnamese man who was actually from halong. He got us a boat which was quite big and showed us our room which was nicer then we expected. We also got lunch and dinner included on the boat but not drinks which wasn't bad. We had brought our own water and luckily our boat didn't charge you for bringing your own drinks onto the boat like some do. We started towards halong bay and first stopped at a Large island to see the surprising cave which had only been discovered relatively recently (1970s-ish). The cave was huge and our guide liked to point out animal shapes in the rock some were quite good likenesses others were terrible.

After this we carried on sailing through halong bay which looks even better when you are in the middle sailing through as everywhere you look are these impressive rocks coming out of the ocean. We then went kayaking however we only got 15 mins to do this so me and Dan made sure we were the first in queue to get on the kayak and last out of the water. The kayaks are owned by people that live on the water. Their houses float on top of the water but they still have dogs and chickens in their houses!! Kayaking was really good as it had more freedom then the big boat. We would find little caves in the rocks and go through to find a whole lagoon where there was no one but us. After we got back on our boat we made spring rolls and had a glass of wine. We made it to where we were going to stay that night just in sight of cat ba island the largest island in the bay. When the boat stopped sailing we were allowed to go swimming in the sea which wasn't too cold but it was too hard to get back on the boat as the ladder was really hard to climb up so I only jumped in twice as I don't think my arms could've pulled me back up again.

We then had our dinner and played some games that a Dutch couple had brought with them our guide also played and we talked to him alot about Vietnam. He then told us that we would be on our own on cat ba island and he was going back the people who were doing the 2 day trip whereas we were doing the 3 day one. It sounded very confusing as we had to find buses and the hotel on our own and then somehow get back to port the next day. The day we were getting back would also be there Vietnam national day and is a huge celebration. Even the guide was unsure whether there would be any boats running on that day. We finally went to bed but then in the night we could hear mice scratching right behind where are heads were so we slept at the foot of the bed instead that way the mice were near our feet and not our heads.