Hello from Halong Bay!

We jumped on a bus to Halong Bay from Hanoi, and then on a boat to tour the bay. Its really amazing, all the rock formations are pretty, and the water is so clear. We stopped off at a cave on the way. Its a huge cave on an island with stalagmites on the inside. The locals have named a few of them after dragons, and some that look like turtles, although we really couldnt see it- not too sure what they were smoking when they came up with some of the ideas! Then we toured the bay again before stopping off at a floating village. It is literally a whole village made on floating barrels. They have boats to get around and even dogs were wandering on the pathways. We jumped in a smaller village boat and were taken on a tour of smaller caves. We went through a tiny opening into a massive crater thing! Like a cave with no roof. It was really stunning with all the vertical cliffs topped with green trees. We also drove past the village school and then hopped back onto our main boat. We stopped in the evening to go kayaking around a bay. Adam went a bit crazy and almost grounded us on some underwater rocks. And then he jumped out of the kayak because he wanted to go for a swim! I tried to sail off, but I wasnt fast enough. we spent the night on the boat. It was nice having a drink on the roof deck and looking at the bay all lit up by the moon, and watching the other 20 tourist boats with their twinkling lights.

The next day we were dropped off at Cat Ba Island. This is where the Thais and Vietnamese come on holiday. It is the largest and only inhabited island in the bay. We found a nice hotel right on the sea front. We had a minor panic here. We had arrived without thinking in advance, and unfortunately for us that meant that we didn't have a lot of money in our pockets. What we hadnt realised is that there are no banks or atms on the island! And nobody is technical enough to accept visa! We didnt have enough money to get us both off the island, let alone pay for a hotel of food! Eventually we found the most up market hotel on the island and got some money out on our visa. Panic over! After a quick lunch we headed to the beach. Its really pretty And really quiet. Adam and I had the beach to ourselves. Until 5 o'clock. Then literally 30 bus loads of Vietnamese holiday makers turned up.They dont like the sun, so only come when the sun has gone in. Each family was trailed by a professional photographer, and they certainly arent shy about posing! Just before we left the beach for the day we went for one last swim. We noticed that a lot of people were pointing at us, and then one lady swam up and asked us if we were famous or in a band! Easy mistake to make i think!

The next day in Cat Ba was very similair,lying on the beach, Adam nagging me to go swimming with him. Dinner was nice, fresh sea food. Apart from that we didnt really do much here- and it was lovely!

Back to the maddness ofHanoi and then we are getting the bus to the next down Ninh Binh