We checked out of our hotel and set off for our next destination, Halong Bay.
It rained that much the night before and apparently all night that the roads were completely flooded (see picture) but everything kept moving, just slower than usual. Unlike the UK, the roads stayed open.
We arrived in Halong around 2pm, 2 hours later than expected due to lots of traffic and flooded roads. We got dropped off by the minibus, a 10 minute walk away from the hotel and guess what, it started raining. So we arrived at our quite posh hotel looking like drowned rats!
We booked this hotel in June as we wanted somewhere nice to spend my birthday. On arrival, we got upgraded to a suite with a room over looking the bay and I also got a birthday cake from the hotel. Yay!
After settling in, we went for a swim at the hotels indoor pool and then out to watch some local football. Mark was dying to get involved but they didn't ask him.
It was a very strange location we were in, the hotel was dead, the streets were dead and the mall across the road didn't even have furnished shops!! I've heard they are planning to build Halong into a huge tourist resort so I'm glad we saw it before it became that.