Halong 1 Hotel Halong Bay

... had been killed during the Vietnam War when he was 4 years old and was determined to make sure his kids were going to grow up with the best chances in life possible. After a few more beers and rice wine it was time to head back to the hotel.

Next morning I woke up a little worse for wear, but managed to make breakfast! After which it was time to get a boat back to Halong City, and back through the beautiful scenery of Halong Bay. That soon got rid of my hangover ...

... nothing but great things to say about it. We stayed on the island of Cat Ba the second night. It was a really nice part of the trip because we had a great room in a nice resort right on the beach and it was included. The next day we had a very long day of traveling. 4 hours on the boat, 4 hours on a bus, and then a 2 hour flight to Ho Chi Minh City (formally Saigon). We were both really glad to put that day of traveling behind us.

... and through the forest was great fun though! The end result was amazing. We caught our breath at the top, the highest peak of Cat
Ba island, the bay spread out far below us. Had a great sense of pride and achievement and then realised we would have to go all the way down again!! Dose!

A few bowls of rice later .....

We took a boat through a fishing village. Whole villages ...

we started off our 3 day adventure at 8am on tuesday at ocean tours main office. there were about 17 people waiting for the bus and so we knew that we'd have a bit of fun! first was our bus trip to halong city, where we caught the boat that some of the guests were staying on. we opted for the beach resort stay as we heard that that was more picturesque and comfortable. we got a tasty lunch on the boat, and straight away fell into conversation with 3 aussies. as we sailed through the ...

... by dramatic lighting, with stalagmites and stalactites hanging everywhere in the once underground cavern. After walking around the cave we then drop anchor in a remote part of the bay where we have a chance to swim and kayak for a while. Kayaking turned out to be the best way to see the bay, giving a sense of scale and the chance to go through small caves to 'hidden' lagoons. Once we'd had our fill of swimming (and cannonballing of the top of the boat, obviously) and kayaking we had ...

... a variety of garish lights--no mistaking that one! Overall though, the cave experience was pretty tedious, at least to me, and we were all literally dripping sweat. One thing I did learn, while eavesdropping on another tour group, was that the graffiti etched/drawn into some of the walls was created by the original discoverers of the cave system. It was interesting to look at as there were a variety of Chinese and French characters/names as ...

... even more decrepit oars. It was beautiful admittedly, but it was sort of a case of errrrm where shall we go, what do we do....are we turning in circles because of the tide...yes we are! We sort of paddled around a bit, getting soaked by a broken oar every time we lifted it, and then quickly decided to retreat back to the boat in the hope of a good breakfast. I now admit this was a silly hope, considering everything that we had been treated to, and sure enough breakfast was ...

... walk through the three caves, each bigger than the last. The stalactites/mites are amazing...

We then went kayaking round the bay (with lots of disagreements about how long it would take to paddle out to the farthest rock - Drew, you're wrong!). After kayaking, we went swimming which included hurling ourselves off the top deck of the boat which, with hindsight, was REALLY high! We did it first and clearly the group could ...

... we get to this "park" we find out that we are actually going to be doing a mountain trek that would last 3 or 4 hours. Hmmm, well we are all in flip flops... wearing clothing not at all suited for a trek or to protect against bug bites... and it is pouring with rain. The van rushes away before we can get back on....and we are told the only ride that we will get back into town will be waiting for us on the other side of the mountain(s). We head off through people's back yards... so I ...

... we did have the odd beer, it would be rude not to while 'en vacance', right?!

After dinner most of our group went back onto the roof to chill out, which we did for a while but soon got tired and went to bed. I guess we're a bit old for all that young backpacker craziness ;)

The last view we had before getting in the room was lovely ...