The morning of the Halong bay boat trip we were both pretty tired but excited. It was a 4hr bus ride from Hanoi with a brief stop at 'pottery village' a very appropriate stop for a group of tourists about to embark on a 3 day booze cruise!!
Once we arrived at the harbour it we took a small fishing boat to the Jolly Roger. The boat was really cool, with a bar and eating area on the middle deck, ensuite rooms below and on the top deck was loads of sun loungers for us to lie back and chill out. We were introduced to our tour guide Chris and instructed to grab a beer and relaxed as we set sail. The vietminese government are currently applying for Halong bay to be one of the 7 wonders of the natural world.. and it certainly deserves to be, pictures don't do it justice, it's beautiful.
After lunch we set off on a kayaking trip to some nearby caves. I was pretty crap at first and Nic got a bit frustrated with me as others rowed past!
The caves were very dark and slippery, Nic managed to break his only pair of flip flops and was shoeless for the rest of the trip.
On the way back we stopped at a floating village, complete with it's own ATM and nightclub!!
In the evening the drinking games began and we felt like we were on a 18-30's holiday. It was great fun though, our team won a bottle of rum and Nic pulled a troll card meaning he had to spend an hour sitting under the table..hehehe

The best part of the trip was that after drinking our body weight in booze we had to wake up at 6.30am to set sail to "castaway island." the island is leased by backpackers hostel company and provided shelter for us for our second day.
The day continued as the night ended, with drinking and activities for all. The beach was our own and as Katie sunbathed, it took me about 10minutes of playing volleyball to somehow manage to slice the end of my big toe off on a sharpe rock. The fact I had no flip flops for the next 3 days made that even better.
We spent the morning sunbathing and then in the afternoon we did some rock climbing which was good fun and Katie also did wakeboarding. The weather
was perfect all day and by the time the evening came, the music was playing and the drink was flowing, we were all in the holiday mood and had an awesome night, eating BBQ, chatting to some really decent people and trying, trying to avoid the Canadian man with the beard...... There is always one.
The Final day was spent sailing back through the Bay, the surrounding rocks and clear waters really helped clear any fuzzy heads from the night before. Our little boat brought us back to the Jolly Rodger for our final lunch together. We ate and headed back to the mainland. A fantastic trip, fun had by all, and a definite recommendation if any of you ever find yourself in Hanoi and want to escape the city 'mentalness' for a few days.
When we could hear the motorbikes and beeping, we knew we were back in Hanoi.
6,000,000 people, 5,000,000 bikes.
Fact.

Nic and Katie

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