At an internet cafe in the Ha Noi airport, flight doesn't leave until 8:35 but we arrived at about 4 straight from Ha Long bay. So just killing some time before flight number 5 in the past 9 days. Looking forward to some bus trips ;)

Ha Long bay was surreal. I felt like I was in Jurassic park, or in The Beach (book and movie), so many limestone karsts covered in trees and plants. There are literally hundreds of junks (Vietnamese word for boat) that take people out in the bay on overnight tours. Our junk had about 20 rooms, a dining area and bar, and a top deck with sun chairs. Wasn't much time to catch some rays though as we had a 5 course lunch, followed by a tour through a cave in one of the karsts. Then we went for a kayak into the centre of another one and watched some monkeys, while they watched us in some unusual poses. When we got back we had a swim off the side of the boat and did a bit of jumping off the boat as well.

Dinner was sensational as well and although they offered karaoke and dancing we stayed up on the top deck for most of the night and had a few drinks.

We were on board with a couple of Australians who lived in Darwin, and two backpacking couples from England, Ireland and Germany. I attempted to play the guitar but had forgotten most of the songs I knew so I don't think I was very entertaining. They also offered squid fishing, which I forgot about until just before I went to bed but we caught about 2 kilo's off the back of the boat with a light, rods with jigs and a net. It was good fun although at one stage I was walking past the light cord and got a bit of a shock!

The next morning we went for a cruise to a floating village. It's quite weird to imagine living where they do. For lunch we were served some of the squid that we caught the night before, whole. It wasn't too bad except that they still had ink in them so it squirted out when you ate it and turned your mouth black. Belinda declined.

Bus trip there and back was about 4 hours, even though it is only about 130km. Slow traffic. We even passed a dead body on the way back which had been covered over in the middle of the road.

Looking forward to another couple of relaxing days in Hoi An.

Photo's are coming.