Hello all,

OMG its been ageees since we've been on here... been so manic, and got so much to say. Even Halong Bay seems like a lifetime ago now, but it was such an amazing place, we can remember it like it was yesterday.

We started off our trip to Halong Bay, by spending a couple of nights in Hanoi (the capital of Vietnam). As our train had been delayed leaving Hoi An, we didn't end up arriving until well after dark. Before heading off in search of a bed however, we had to book our train tickets to China (costing a total 5,382,000d) as the trains can get pretty booked up. This in itself was quite interesting, as when we asked the information desk where to book, we were met with a blank stare and a simple 'No!'. In the end, after a fair bit of waiting we managed to sort them, and headed on our way in what we thought was the right direction to our hostel...

It turned out it wasn't, and after about 2km of walking we realised that we had headed in complelty the wrong direction lol! Eventually, we found where we were looking for down a little back alley, and crashed out soon after having some dinner.

The next day, we had a wander around the city taking in the sights. It wasn't the most inspiring place to be honest and the sights included a road called 'shoe street' (which is pretty self explanitory), and didn't take that long to get around. It was as always, very interesting trying to cross a road... probably more-so in Hanoi than elsewhere due to the masses of motorcyclist who all seem to have a deathwish. On our walk around we stumbled upon a small open-air exhibition of bonsai trees, which was really quite cool. On our walk, Nina did manage to get a bit of a battle scar (being in 'Nam and all) and brushed against a very hot motorbike exhaust. We rushed to a cafe to get some ice on it, but even so it had come up in a blister within 5 mins. Not much fun for her, but she was very brave and managed to keep walking around for the rest of the day. After walking a few more streets, and witnessing a school hometime pick-up (basically hundreds and hundreds of motorbike packed into a small street) we headed back to our hostel to ice Nina's leg and get some rest. Halong Bay the next day, so we were both REALLY excited, but had knackered ourselves out enough walking the streets to get a good nights sleep.

The next morning, we woke up really early (like 5.30am) and had to rush around getting ready for our pick-up to take us down the coast, a 2-3 hour drive away. I (Ben) had to rush out buying enough water and beer to last us the 3 day 'cruise', to avoid paying the crazy prices onboard our junk. On the way back, I was grabbed by a woman in the street who was trying to sell me some bananas and dragged her with me for a few meters down the road before she let go lol! Bizzare sales tactics in Vietnam!

Anyway, eventually we got on our mini-bus and slept most of the way to the bay. Of course we stopped off at a tourist trap selling sculptures and silks and postcards etc. It was all war veterans working there, painting pictures and sewing pretty things. Quite interesting! When we finally got down to the bay we were super super excited as we could see all the karsts in the distance, it looked amazing! After waiting for our guide to locate our boat, a bit of a job amongst the hundreds of boats moored up in the harbour, we finally climbed aboard. It was a really small traditional junk, much like the one in the picture above. There were seven really cosy and comfy cabins, a small restaurant/seating area and a sun deck above. We first had lunch, 8 courses of sea-food including crab, squid and prawns with veggies and noodles and fruit for desert. The food was really good and we couldn't believe how much of it there was! They had put us on a table with an older, norwegian couple and we kind of had a conversation. They didn't speak much english lol.

Me and Ben then went up to the deck and sat watching as we got closer to the karsts. After about an hour we were amongst them. They were so tall and some were like massive islands whilst others were like little tree covered rocks poking out of the very blue green sea! They all looked so close that you could touch them. We had a guide on our boat (who spoke really good English & French) who came up top to join us every-so-often and told us about some of the Vietnamese mythology behind the bay. He also told us that part of the reason the UNESCO heritage status was given is beacuse of the untouched wildlife on these isolated karst outcroppings. Apparently there were monkeys, and if you were lucky you could see them SWIMMING from island to island! We didn't see this, but were lucky enough to see loads of sea eagles floating around in the sky above us, and occasionally diving down to catch a meal. It was all so incredible, and completely exceeded our expectations! After a couple of hours in awe, we pulled into a little cove and got into some kayaks. We paddled through some little tunnels with staglamites dripping from them and tried to avoid the rocks (not very succesfully lol) and eventually came into a lake which they call Halong bay swimming pool. It was so amazing, there was no wind as it was completely surrouded by massive walls and all you could hear was the cicada's and bugs and birds. It was so peaceful and beautiful. After milling around in there we made our way back out the narrow passageway and back to the boat. We then sailed off again and we sat up the top with a couple of beers and watched the sun set. It was breath-taking, and very romantic. We then had a lovely sea-food dinner. They had put out a candle for me and ben on our own table sprinkled with rose petals. It was quite funny but very sweet!

The next morning we woke up quite early and very well rested as we had the comfiest bed we'd had in a long time! We had a breakfast of bread with laughing cow cheese and muffins, it's what they thought was a western breakfast lol. We then set off to another little bay where there was this maaasssive natural cave. We walked up quite alot of steep steps and back down into the first chamber. It was all soflty lit with little fresh water pools everywhere which we waded through into another, slightly larger chamber. It was so amazing to see, the rocks made funny shapeds everywhere, most of which had some stories to go with them. One was shaped like a frog and it is said the frog came to ask the gods for rain as it had been very dry. After praying for ages the rains eventually came and he was now a sacred frog! Vietnam is full of stories like that. After walking around it for a while (it was incredibly huge) we walked back to our boat. We then got transfered onto a really small boat which we had to ourselves as everyone else was going back to land. We sailed to a little fishing village and had a kayak around it. They were so cool, little houses half the size of Pippins floating on the water, all strung together. They had loads of dogs running around and kids playing everywhere, there was even a school and a little shop and a small temple perched on the hillside. Very picturesque! We then got back onto our boat and sailed for a while longer watching the eagles catch lunch and taking in the beautiful surroundings! We then got to a cluster of karsts dotted with perfect little beaches. Again we jumped into our kayak and paddled towards one. There was no-one around except for an old man on a tiny canoe diving for oysters. Unfortunately it was really really raining and we got soaked, but ran onto the beach and sat under a rock with a beer watching the waves. The sea was the most perfect colour and so calm and the beach was dotted with crabs and shells. It was stunning and so quiet. After a wander along the 20m beach and taking shelter for a while we paddled back to our boat where our guide was preparing lunch. Again it was 8 courses of sea-food and we barely ate any of it as there was so much! It was then nap-time (lol) and everyone fell asleep except for me (Nina). I sat reading for a couple of hours whilst the worst of the rain passed. It was so peacefull, looking out at the little beaches.

We then got taken back to a different boat for our 2nd night. The boat was alot posher as it was brand new and there quite a few people on board. Most of them spoke english and it was really nice to chat with some people. Some were from Australia, there was a french couple and a russian couple and we had some really interesting convo's. We even had a cooking class where we all made spring rolls! We then had dinner with the most amazing prawns with flowers carved from veggies and chillies and these huge, weired mussel type things! After chatting with everyone a bit more we crashed out.

Unfortunately that night we were both really ill! Such a shame as the food had been amazing. We think it was when we were on the small boat as everyone else was fine, but by the morning Nina's temperature was very high and was not with it at all! After chilling in our room we came back to mainland and got a bus back to Hanoi, where we stayed at a hotel we had booked previously. We spent the next two days so ill, both had high temperatures and Ben was hallucinating and talking non-sense at one point! That evening we got on our train for China, feeling awefull!

Anyways, dinner is calling so will write about our trip to China soon!

Love n miss you all xxxxxxxx