Day 241- We arrived in to Hanoi city centre about 6am, luckily we recognised our surroundings, we avoided the taxi touts and moved on to a back street to flag one down, we asked to be taken straight to the bus station which luckily wasn't too far away. Once there we were told the desk didn't open till 7am, we befriended an English woman who said she would watch our big bags while we went in search of breakfast. First thing we came across was kebab (these things are pretty popular in Vietnam but are pork not Lamb) it was delicious. Back at the station we booked our tickets to Cat Ba island and boarded the bus to Haiphong city. Once there we swapped to a second bus to Haiphong bay and the jumped on the speed boat to Cat Ba island and then finally our last bus picked us up at the port and took us to the town. It was a really good service and reduced the hassle for us. We were there just after midday. A man touted us off the bus and offered us a sea view room for $8 we were sold. As we tried to leave the hotel he started to ask questions about a Ha Long bay boat trip and telling us about his tour. We had done A LOT of research about Ha Long bay hence the fact we were on Cat Ba island. Basically the Ha Long bay area is one of the most beautiful places in the world with karst formations towering out of the sea for miles. Unfortunately its not very well looked after by the Vietnamese and hundreds of boats chug around it everyday, most people start in Hanoi spend the morning on a bus (apparently the worst bus ride in Vietnam), then they board a packed boat the rest of the afternoon and the next morning is spent hitting all the tourist spots before heading back to port and then Hanoi. We didn't want to do this so we we went to Cat Ba island to do a small tour that avoids the tourist spots and shows you the beautiful side. We had researched what we believed was the perfect company but they were charging over the odds so we were hoping once on the island to speak to them and bring the price down. But the guy in the hotel was offering the same tour for nearly half the price. We were unsure as it all seemed too good to be true so we headed out to have a think about it. We went in search of lunch but all we could find was pretty expensive seafood restaurants, all we wanted was a cheap lunch. We managed to find some noodles and then moved on to a coffee shop to use the wifi and look for reviews. We couldn't find a single review about the hotel tour, we didn't know if that was good or bad. We checked out the market and walked back to the hotel. The guy told us his boat was in port so he took us out to see it and it was perfect, a lovely little boat that held 4 people and 2 crew, a small tour just what we wanted. We decided to take a chance with him and booked up for the tour the next day. We Skyped my Mam and Dad and after about 45 minutes the charger started to melt again! That's the third charger to break and the second to melt! We said our goodbys and headed out for tea. We got some lovely BBQ'd fish and then the heavens opened, we hoped it would stop the next day for our trip. Back at the hotel we packed our day bags and got an early night.

Day 242- We were up bright and early and we were really excited for our boat trip. We boarded our home for the next two day and met the Czech couple we would be sharing it with. We were out of the bay no longer than 10 minutes before we could see the beauty. We sunbathed on the deck watching the world go by. We stopped for some kayaking and there was no-one else in sight, just what we wanted. We kayaked through small caves in the rocks in to lagoons and it felt like we were on a movie set, everything was so breath-taking. We kayaked for an hour and when we got back to the boat we recognised a boat from the same company, it was slightly bigger holding 6 people. We were served lunch on the deck and it was perfect, we had specifically requested fresh seafood as the area in renowned for it. We were served steamed fish and calamari stir fry, we couldn't have asked for more. After lunch we were back on the waves, we just sat in total awe of the scenery. The 2 members of staff didn't speak English, they both managed to say sentences such as 'now Kayak, 1 hour' and what we were doing now was 'natural cave'. We had asked to visit some natural caves and to avoid the tourist caves the boats usually get taken to which are full of flashing lights and hundreds of people. We sailed up to a small cave and jumped out. The guide handed out torches and we started our walk through the cave. It was massive and got very dark very fast, before we knew it we were crawling through tiny cracks in the walls in to more massive caves. They were pitch black but the torches lit up the area to show the most amazing stalagmites and stalactites. We burrowed through and back round to the opening where the boat was waiting. Next we sailed around to Tu Long bay and to a swimming area but I had seen far too many jellyfish to be daft enough to jump in but Lloyd and the Czech guy jumped in and swam to a near by beach. They both said it was beautiful and so clean. Lloyd came back with a handful of beautiful shells to show me. We sailed along to a fish market where we saw all the crabs and fish on offer. The captain jumped off and a few other boats pulled up and they all started to play cards. We realised we would be here for a while which was fine with us. The four of us talked and read our books and then we were served dinner, more amazing seafood. The sun was setting and we had really enjoyed our amazing boat trip. As the night drew in we were sailed away from the market and we docked in to a small bay for the night. Day 243- We woke up very early as the boat had no curtains and it was very hot. We headed up on the deck for breakfast and the sun was shining. Soon we were on our way and we chugged around to Lan Ha Bay stopping to do some kayaking. Our none English speaking guide managed to say '2 hour' and point at some gaps in the rock, he then said '100 metres turn left' and that was it. I didn't like the look of the caves as they looked really low, pitch black and we had to kayak through them. We headed in and we were nearly touching the top, it was actually really fun although we couldn't see much, after a while we saw light on our left so turned and ended up in a beautiful Lagoon (It turned out that we were there on a very unusual low tide so were very lucky to be able to kayak through these particular caves). After 3 caves and 2 lagoons we were back out, we had 40 mins left so had a kayak around a near by fishing village. It was mad to see people living in their floating houses. Back on the boat we chilled out before lunch then sailed slowly around Lan Ha Bay. The scenery was so beautiful we just sat and watched it all go by. We stopped at Monkey Island and just as we jumped off the boat the heavens opened. But we decided to still climb to the top of the very steep mountain. It was hard with it being wet and the rocks were so jagged but the views at the top were well worth it. Back at the bottom we were taken back to Cat Ba port as we had a bus to catch. We had loved our boat trip, we said our goodbyes and rushed up to our waiting bus where we took a bus-boat-bus combo back to Haiphong bus station and then finally a sleeper bus to Hue.