This morning we woke up on the train at 4am in Hanoi. We transfered to a bus to take us to Halong Bay.
After 3 hours we arrived in Halong Bay. Our hotel is waterfront and the view is amazing! We couldn't get our room so early in the morning, so I went for a run along the ocean. It is so quiet and peaceful here. The thousands of green islands remind me of Advatar. It was hot an sweaty after my run, so I went swimming in the ocean with my shorts and tank top on. It was so nice and relaxing after that long day and night of traveling. Once I got back to the hotel, we had our rooms. I showered and then we went to the pier to get on our junk boat. It is called a junk boat, but it is a nice boat and it was huge for our small group. They served us lunch while we cruised around the islands of Halong Bay.
The clouds started to roll in while we were eating lunch. We cruised to the fishing village where people live on the water surrounded by islands. There are 500 people who live in the village on the water. There is even a floating school. At the village, we rented kayaks and went kayaking around the village. We also kayaked through caves into areas where we were surrounded by islands. It was gorgeous! Then it started pouring rain. Like as much rain as in the Notebook.
While we were hiding inside one of the caves, waiting out the rain, I so badly wanted to jump into the ocean and go swimming in the rain. It was tricky though because I was sharing a kayak with Helen and she did not want to get wet. I carefully jumped out of the Kayak while other people held it steady. The water was so warm. I absolutely loved swimming around in the pouring rain surrounded by majestical islands. I think this was my favorite moment of the whole trip so far. Getting back into the kayak was more of a challenge though. The people in the other Kayaks held our kayak steady while I pulled myself in. Helen didn't fall in, but she was still soaked from the rain.
Once back on the junk boat, we changed out of our wet clothes. Then we went to this cave that was discovered in 1993 by a man who was trying to hide from the rain. It appears to be an old underground river like those in Mexico with stalagmites and stalactites. It has stone pathways and colorful lights though, so it does not look natural or untouched like the ones in Mexico. Still beautiful though.
Once back on the boat, Albert brought out a cake to celebrate Helen's birthday. That was nice. I think it cheered her up because she was feeling a bit homesick today.
In the evening, we went out for dinner and did karaoke to celebrate Helen's birthday. We had our own private karaoke room. They had a large selection of songs and the Asian dancers/actors in the "music videos" were hilarious. We had a good time singing classics and silly songs.
After karaoke, we bought some beer to bring back to the hotel. On the way back from buying beer the girls had Joe spread away from the group to see if he would get approached for BoomBoom. We had been warned ahead of time that if Joe walked alone he would be approached. Sure enough within seconds of separating from the group he was approached and offered BoomBoom by a man. It was funny! To end the night, we took our beers and went and sat on the patio of the hotel overlooking the ocean for a chill night.