we got picked up from our hotel and made our way via charter bus to halong bay, we met up with a couple of foriegn travellers, couple of auzzys, couple french,couple of japanese, and four dutch.

we got to the boats after making a stop at a ceramic factory (with no incentive of buying we used their toilets and got an ice cream). the boats were huge luxury vessels and each had a top deck that had some deck chairs on it was quite spectacular really. we got to our boat that was at the back of the fleet of vessels, the only way to get to it was to climb over everone elses boats, god knows what they think but i wouldn't like it with hundreds of tourist clambering over my boat.

we all sat down in a really nice dining area in the middle deck and got given a random pick of room keys to make it fair. we luckily got one bang next to the bar so that was quite convinient! we had a posh seafood meal that we shared with the two auzzys. Dan and Ando. crazy pair really but more about them later.

the meal was outstanding with huge crabs, prawns, muscles etc. all served with salad and a squeeze of lime.

we settled down in our room while we unpacked the nessecities like sun cream and mozzy repelant and made our way up on deck. like i said before it was luxury you'd look at other boats and they looked pathetic next to our 30ft cruiser made for about 15 people. the first thing we did was position ourselves at the front of the boat showing our authority to the french! and went downstairs to start our tab!

we sat back and relaxed while we sailed past loads of little islands with a couple of beers and chatting to Dan and Ando. eventually we arrived at the place where we would sleep for the night so we dropped the anchor and the guide said we could go for a swim. me being the opportunist jumped at the chance (pun intended).

so by gathering the troops together (me, josh, dan, ando) we jumped in off the middle deck. we tryed going to the top deck but the guide stopped us! the water was lovely with bath water qualities apart from there not being any bubbles! so we had quite a long swim around a couple of boats and headed back in for another slap up meal! this was just as good as the last! but this time i think it was sea bream? not too sure but it tasted great.

after dinner it just happened to be the chefs 22nd birthday so we celebrated the traditional Vietmanese way. Vodka!

after four bottles of vodka were finnished the tour guide decided it was a good idea for him to go to bed. he must of been a serious lightweight becasue ever step he fell over twice. the captain had to stop him falling out the window he was so bladded!

by this time everyone was going to bed, so me dan and ando decided to go up on deck so we didn't wake everyone up. this seemed agood idea but i think we just sang even louder. after about 6 more beers each ando thought it was a good idea to go for a swim. so fueled by the Jimi Hendrix on dans speakers, he stripped off and jumped. it took a while for me and dan to realise but after 20mins we started to wonder whether he was daed or in bed so we had to find him. it turns out that it took him 15 mis to climb out the water! after that fiasco we went to bed at 4am, and somehow I didn't wake josh up!

that morning we had to get up at 7.30 for breakfast and go kyaking. low and behold dan and ando didn't show up. so we all just set off for a 2 hour long kyak trip round some islands. it was quite good fun and we saw some caves and floating markets.

after getting off the water we headed back to the harbour where we had set off this took a good 5 hours so i indulged in some well needed rest. when i woke up we were getting knocked around by other boats hustling to get to the pier.

we now had to endure another 3 hour minibus ride back to hanoi, stopping off at that bloody ceramic factory again. that was the end of the trip really and we just said bye to everyone and went back to the hotel for one last time. and again we went back to Le Pub for more drinks and food.

in the morning we're heading out to Laos throught the worst border to pass in Asia! Cant wait!