Halong Bay

On Thursday morning we had an early start for our trip to Halong bay. We took a 3 and a half hour bouncy minibus journey down to Halong pier to catch our boat to Halong Bay. On our journey we dicovered the Vietnamese's love for Kareoke.. every other bar in each town that we drove past was a kareoke bar. Also that mopeds pretty much carry/transport anything from a family of 5 to a full size (dead) pig or a tree or anything that can be tied to it!!

We arrived at the pier around midday and got straight on the boat, which was really stunning. It only had 24 cabins but they and the staff were really lovely. We had a Vietnamese lunch, it consisted of 5 course and it was really nice for us to be able to try some of their food. We headed out for Halong bay and on the way we stopped at 1 of over 1000 islands. This island was called Titop island after someone important that visited it! There were a steep 402 steps climb to the top of the peak but the views were stunning! We took lots of pictures which we will upload. We then returned to the boat and sailed for about 45 mins to our second stop - Cua Van floating fishing village!

On our visit were taken on a tour by the locals on an old boat to see the village which consists of 130 floating houses and about 600 people living there. They even had a 'school' which was 2 green sheds floating together. We wondered if the children swam to school in the morning ;o) It was a real eye opener to see how these family's live and work on the floating village. Again we took lots of photos which we will upload shortly.

When we got back to the boat we watched how the chef carved different fruit and veg into flowers, it was funny to think that the majority of the women were definetly going to try this at the next dinner party they have!! We were all hungry after watching this so we had the buffet dinner, I tried nooddles and spring rolls and curried chicken, which were all really nice.

We had another early start as the boat set sail at 6.45am towards the 'Suprise' cave, it really was a suprise as when we arrived we walked up a few steps, ducked under a rock and then entered a huge, lit up cave. We walked around the cave for about 45 mins and took lots of photos. We then headed back to the boat where we had breakfast and headed back to the pier and for the long journey back to Hanoi.

When we arrived back in Hanoi, James and I quickly popped into a nail place and I had my toenails painted. The girl in the shop pinched the skin on my leg and kept looking at it and smiling and touching it! They believe that the whiter you are the more class and wealth you have...?? They even sell face and body cream in the shops out here that have bleach in to brighten and lighten their skin!!

Missing you all.. don't forget to check out our photos! xx