My 23rd Birthday in Vietnam!

On the morning of my birthday we wake up on Cat Ba Island to go sea kayaking. Unfortunately I am in agony because I have pulled a muscle in my back but dosed up with ibu and paracetamol I decide to go anyway.

We take a bus to a little inlet where there is a floating village and we go to one of the houses/restaurants on the floating village with our local guide to get our lifejackets, paddles and kayaks. We then take off with the guide around the floating villages which are really cool, they say that when the people who live there go on land the get land sickness. They all have dogs too, maybe one or two which is strange as they have no where to walk them but our guide tells us they swim to the bases of the rock formations where people can't go so I suppose that keeps them exercised.

There are quite a few bots where we are and it's more than a little scary but it works on the same principle as the roads, somehow they avoid you! The water in the inlet is very calm and it's really fun so we relax a little, UNTIL we get out of the inlet and into more open sea where there are actual waves, Matt is fine but for a minute I am terrified that we will capsize and I will drown, even though the waves are more like very gentle ripples! I calm down eventually. We are heading for Monkey Island where as the name suggests there are monkeys and it takes us about 1 hour to get there. What with the trekking yesterday and the kayaking today I certainly feel I am getting more than enough exercise!!

When we get to the island we just row up to the beach and get out but with the little waves coming in it is easier said than done and the other people in our group capsize their kayak. It doesn't take long for the monkeys to come out and investigate and there is one male two females and four baby ones. The guide brings them some nuts and Mattie feeds them, they'll come right up to you and take the nuts out of your hand and then stand there while they eat them. They're not 100% satisfied with the nuts so they try to steal my bag out of the kayak because I have some biscuits in there but the guide chases them off and they bear their teeth at him, not impressed!

The guide then takes Mattie up a mountain where one of the little monkeys follow him, and he shouts Happy Birthday down to me! We walk around the beach there for a little and then get into our kayaks to row back, as matt is at the back and in charge of steering he brings us very close to the rocks which I am not happy with, even though by very close I mean about 15 metres, the guide is very close to the rocks like 5 metres!

The row back is easier and only takes us 40 minutes because of the current the guide tells us. When we get back he lets us look around the floating house/restaurant and at the back they have loads of fishing nets with all sorts of fish in them for use in the restaurant. There are these King fish and they are massive!

We then get the bus back to Cat Ba and pack up our things for the hydrofoil to Haiphong harbor for the bus back to Hanoi - after the mornings Kayaking we are really tired and sleep most of the way! We do stop at a little café and have green tea and sweet green bean cakes, the traditional thing. It's really good.

In Hanoi we have dinner before boarding the overnight train to Lao Cai; I have Catfish which is one of Vietnam's biggest exports, although on the menu it said tuna?! It's really good, a white fish kind of like cod I guess.

Then we get the bus to the railway station, and by station I mean trains on the track, you just walk across the tracks to get to your train, I guess the 'don't worry they'll avoid you' philosophy works everywhere. Our train is an old fashioned sleeper, four beds, small table and a little lamp it's very exciting! This is the best train in Vietnam we're told and we're traveling first class which costs just over 1million Vietnamese Dong (about 40 pounds).

The train takes off and our little group congregate in out little cabin for some beer when our group leader surprises me with this amazing chocolate cake, it is seriously amazing, I can't even describe it so you'll have to wait for the pictures! He also buys me a little statue of a girl in traditional clothes and CD of traditional music.

We get out the Swiss army knife, divide the cake and my 23rd Birthday party consists of, traditional music, Hanoi Beer, cake, coconut peanuts and the most amazing popcorn we've ever had all on board the best train in Vietnam, overnight to Lao Cai, truly unforgettable!