After a very early wake up I was bundled onto a bus headed for Ha Long Bay. It was a 4 hour journey which seemed to take longer than that. You couldn't lose anyone from our group as we were all issued with rainbow coloured sombreros and looked like idiots walking round! We arrived at Ha Long port to be taken to a boat where I was soon to discover that it was to be me and 11 men on this particular boat till we got to Ca Ba Island the following day...of course I didn't mind but I heard a few complaints about it being a 'sausage fest' from a few of the guys. I ended up sharing a cabin with a guy from Germany who seemed nice enough.

We sailed on for a bit and finally made it to a part of the bay where we were allowed to swim and jump from the side of the boat. I was actually quite relieved it took so long as 5 minutes before we'd seen the biggest jellyfish just floating past the boat. Honestly it was bigger than a giant football which sort of put us off from going in the water for a bit. I am not a big fan of heights so I chickened out of jumping from the very top deck of the boat and jumped from the middle...still swallowing half of Ha Long Bay which turned out to be very salty. The drinking rules and games started very early on this trip and I was a little surprised that when we went Kayaking we were encouraged to take a couple of beers each along for the journey! I was Kayaking with a guy called Jason from the UK and I can say this now...I am not very fit. He could paddle for Britain and I will admit now that cheekily I might have sat back and done nothing for a couple strokes every now and again lol.

Word had soon spread that I was the only girl on an all guy boat and somehow random people knew my name by the time we reached the caves. Walking through a cave in the dark when you've been drinking might not have been the best idea but I had fun taking the mick out of the two guys walking with me who don't like bats...don't like snakes...don't like spiders and don't like walking in the dark! Just the words 'what was that' seemed to turn them into little girls lol. Kayaking again was not without some injury as an Irish girl hit me in the head with her paddle because she wasn't looking where she was going...ouch.

Getting back to the boat I think we were relieved that we were going to dock with another boat for a boat party tonight which meant more people and more importantly to the guys...more girls! Drinking games ensued and so did a lot of carnage, I've learnt quite a few now that I will be taking with me to other countries and back to the UK when I return home. I think the strangest thing I saw tonight was a guy from Scotland who carries a teddy round with him. Apparently one from when he was born and has become his travel mascot, this little white coloured teddy is named Whitey. I commented on how racist it sounded but he was forgiven since he named it when he was like 1 or 2 years old. Although...if I had known then what I know now about where that teddy has been and what he's been covered in I would NOT have touched it. Enough said I'm not detailing! After some dancing on the tables I think I made it into bed about 1.30 am to get ready for another day of carnage tomorrow!

The photo is from inside the cave looking out to the bay.