Yesterday I set off with a minibus full of other people for Halong Bay. It's about a 3 hour drive to Halong City from Hanoi so we arrived just after midday. The harbour was full of tourists and once we got there everyone was seperated into different groups depending on which boat cruise they were booked on for. I was in a group of 20 of which most were middle aged couples but I did befriend an English couple of similar age to me and spent the majority of the trip with them. However the first meal of the trip I was sat with 3 old people and 2 non-English speaking Italians so lunch was a bit boring. I didn't pay the single supplement so I was put in a room with a youngish German guy who was quite nice and I was just happy I wasn't put with one of the creepy old guys.

We sailed out to a set of caves called "Suprising Cave", which as the name suggests was called so because it was suprising to the French people that found it. There were three chambers which got bigger as you progressed through them until you got to the last one which was absolutely huge. The ceiling is amazing as it has a strange pattern, supposedly due to it having been submerged under water originally. There are lots of stalagmites and some odd rock formations that looked like animals or people.

Once we'd seen inside the cave we went kayaking which was so much fun. I went with my German roomie and we kayaked around some small islands for about an hour which was lovely because the sea was so calm. Most people stayed out on the top deck to watch the sunrise before going back below for dinner. I had a good table this time with the young English couple, Sarah and Ian, and the German guy, and we had the most scrumptous buffet dinner, the only disappointing thing being that we got fruit for dessert! We did some squid fishing after we'd eaten, and although we had a couple of sightings and a few bites, we didn't actually manage to catch anything.

I slept so well on the boat, and although a lot of people were paranoid about the water valve being closed, I'm pretty sure the sea air worked its magic on me. We had a really good breakfast and then set sail back to the mainland. I spent most of the remaining time up on the deck as it got really sunny, and then just before lunch went downstairs to watch a spring roll demonstration. By the time we'd had lunch we were very close to Halong City and the weather had got worse so there was no hope of sitting up on the deck. We disembarked from the boat about 1pm and then got the minibus to Hanoi.

Since returning to the capital I've spent more time with Sarah and Ian as we went out for Bia Hoi (local draft beer) and beef noodle soup with peanuts. They also introduced me to a little stall where you can buy fruit salad with condensed milk and coconut cream which is very yummy!