We were picked up from the hotel at 8.00 and travelled on the craziest, bumpiest roads I've ever seen! I moan about the roads in Dudley being bumpy, but this is whole new level! And the traffic is crazy, bikes going the wrong way down the highway, cars over taking coaches head on towards lorries, there was a lot of adrenaline pumping just watching the traffic! Saying that, we've only seen two people fall off their scooters today.... We stopped off at what I'm guessing is their version of our motorway services, over priced food and drink and shocking toilets. Si had a coffee which was served with condensed milk, which he truly enjoyed, so I know what to get him for belated christmas now... After four hours, we arrived at Ha Long Bay. We boarded our boat and made our way to the islands. Unfortunately, it was quite misty, but as we got closer it became clear how amazing these islands are!! We had lunch, which was buffet style, and consisted mainly of seafood, which is rubbish for me.... Whole prawns?? They've still got eyes! It's not ok..... Si enjoyed them though. And he tried octopus which he says surprisingly tasted more meaty than fishy.... I stuck to chicken, rice and chips. Ha! I did try something else, which I'm still not sure what it was, but I liked it. I'm getting adventurous! After lunch, we carried on closer to the islands and docked at a floating village. It was surreal, seeing these houses and shops where people live and work in the middle of the sea. Me and Si hired a kayak and investigated the nearby islands and caves. There are 2000 islands all together, created by a volcanic eruption. They are stunning! Although we struggled a bit with the kayaking at first, when I stopped trying and just let Si do it on his own, we were much better! We went through three caves and negotiated our way through the floating village. We got back aboard our boat and headed towards the Heaven Caves, where one of the James Bond films was filmed. On the way, we passed the Fighting c*** Islands, which is literally two islands that look like fighting c*** ! Obviously! Inside the Heaven Caves, our tour guide pointed out that inside the caves, there are loads of animals and people that can be seen in the shapes of the caves. In particular, there was one part of the caves that looked a lot like a boob, and our tour guide said that men touch this to get good luck with the ladies, and to be able to get many many girls! I wasn't too impressed when Si had a cheeky feel on his way past though.... From the caves, we headed back to the shore and back on to the bus for another four hour journey back. Back at the hotel, we popped out for some breakfast for the morning, as we hope to miss the hotel breakfast with a lie in tomorrow! We (accidentally) found the night market, which was horrendously busy, so we found our way back out again. The smell on the streets tonight was horrific!! Between the men cleaning the sewers and the rotten fish on the streets, we were gagging! It didn't help that we had just taken our malaria tablets which still make us a bit queazy... We found a bakery, bought breakfast, and came back to the hotel. We're taking it easy tonight, so that we are fresh for the start of our tour tomorrow!! We're so excited now, and have kind of had enough of the hustle and bustle and smells of Hanoi so we're looking forward to exploring the rest of Vietnam and Cambodia. The chances of wifi are a bit dodgy over the next few days, so if we don't blog before, have nice Christmas!
Blog soon, Emma x