Today we got up early and drove for another 3 hours to Halong bay. This place is listed as one of the seven natural wonders of the world and for a good reason! We boarded our luxury junk boat at lunchtime and were treated to a seafood banquet! We stuffed ourselves silly on prawns, crab and oysters. Our energy didn't go to waste though because directly after that we boarded the dingy and headed out to the mountains to explore the caves, this reminded me of the du...

Woke up to a 40 degree day, I had THE BEST sleep last night in our air conditioned room (the beds had snugly doonas instead of the usual one sheet) Breakfast was amazing in this motel, there was everything from chocolate crepes to fruit and muesli to eggs and bacon. We all caught cyclo bikes to take us sight seeing today, they are like wheelchairs with bikes on the back and the little Asian men drive you around. There was an option at the temples to either wal...

This morning we took a 4 hour bus trip on the only highway in Vietnam. We traveled along the coast of the south china sea and through the mountains, the view was so breath taking it hardly felt like a 4 hour trip, occasionally I catch myself just smiling for no reason lately and I'm certain it's because of this beautiful country. We stopped at the peak of marble mountain for some photos and refreshments, I made a new friend called Hai, she was a lady hell bent o...

I'm hurting tonight, from sheer pleasure! Today we took a speed boat out for a little more snorkeling, there were less fish this time but more coral and a whole heap of huge electric blue star fish! We were dropped at a remote island for the rest of the morning, it was just us in the shade of the palm trees on glistening sand, crystal clear water, deck chairs with drinks and another 5 course meal! I worked on my leg tan but kept pretty covered over the remaind...

Our flight this morning was due to leave at 7:40am. It was 6:50ish after a 25 minute bus ride when we realized my bag along with another girl (kim)'s bag had been left in the lobby at the motel... It took ages to call the motel and get them to understand that we needed a taxi to bring the bags to us before our flight (luckily I knew my bag was only 7kg so I could check in early and take it as carry on IF it made it on time) I wasn't overly stressed cause my sat...