"You guys are better than Ant and Dec"

"He saw me coming. He knew I needed shoes, man." - Dan

On Thursday, our three day adventure started. The bus was picking us up at 8am so Dan and I got down to the bar for 7.45 to have our first rum of the day (to the surprise of the Vietnamese barman serving breakfast).

We got on the bus for our 4 hour trip to Halong City. This is where we were to pick up the boat for our 3 day/2 night booze cruise around Halong Bay. That's right. We went to the seventh Natural Wonder of the World and took a booze cruise.

So half way through our bus trip with our group of about 40 we stopped for food and drinks........or in our case beers. The other thing to mention was that day 2 of the cruise was Phil's birthday...........which Dan and I accidentally mentioned to everyone in our group including our tour guide, Seb.

So a few beers later, we arrived in Halong City and got on the boat. Here is where we had lunch and learnt the rules for the next few days. You must drink with your left hand and you cannot use the words MINE or TEN. Easier said than done. If caught drinking with your right hand someone would shout BUFFALO and you would have to see off your drink. If someone caught you saying MINE or TEN then you had to do TEN press ups - we weren't just there to get drunk, we worked out a bit too :)

Anyway, we spent that afternoon on the boat drinking, getting to know each other, and taking in the amazing scenery. At one point, I sat on the front of the boat with Seb taking it all in. With about half an hour to go we stopped so that we could have a swim in Halong Bay. Everyone started jumping in and as I was about to get in, I heard them mention "the ladder is broken". To save what little dignity I still have when I'm travelling, I decided to stay on the boat and help others get out. SuperJosh to the rescue!!!

Once everyone was back on the boat we headed to the island that we were going to be staying on and met the group from the day before - who were spending their second night on the island. We were welcomed with limbo and a free beer - which we shotgunned. After a quick welcome chat we headed to our luxury suites. 10 in a hut and we each got our own mattress and mosquito net!!! If you wanted a pillow and sheet you could use your bag and towel. Unfortunately there was no ensuite bathroom though.

We then headed for dinner, followed by some drinking games. A big game of 'On the Bus' which ended with someone drinking a beer through somebody else's arse, Dan flossing with the pubes of his choice (mine), and as I was attending to a rather drunk Phil about 5 or 6 guys ran naked into the sea. So yeah, it was a tame affair. About 10.30 the drinking games ended and we were left to carry on as we wanted.

The drinking continued for a few more hours, including Phil turning 19 at midnight. This meant Phil ended up on a table necking two cans of beer through a beer funnel, followed by him throwing up on the table. Job done for day 1 and day 2 was his actual birthday!!!!

That night we all gradually crashed out until about 8am, when the locals turned off the power, the fans went off, and we couldn't sleep because of the heat!! Dan then decided to wake everyone else up one by one with the offer of "rum or hump". This gave them the option of taking a shot of rum and if not then he would dry hump them until they had woken up. I guess he had to make the rum sound more appealing, right?

So once people were up, nursing their hangovers, a few of us decided the best way to deal with a hangover was to avoid it by drinking straight away. Most of us decided to drink casually throughout the day to keep ourselves at a good level but there is always one clown. In this situation, surprisingly it was Dan, who during "rum or hump" managed to drink half a bottle of rum.

Whilst we were having breakfast, we were told that we would have to evacuate the island due to a typhoon. This was a backpackers tour and we couldn't help but think it was a wind up. They told us we would go after lunch and so for the next few hours we speculated about whether it was actually happening or not. Throughout this time, some people went tubing (pulled round on a tube by a speedboat), some chilled on the beach, and others just chilled with a few drinks.

Eventually a boat did pick us up and take us to Cat Ba island. Even though we were upgraded to a 3* hotel, this news was still a little disappointing. We checked into our hotel, Dan had a sleep, and the rest of us headed for some food and a walk around Cat Ba. When we got back, we had a couple of hours before dinner and so 8/9 of us decided to play some drinking games.

After dinner, the drinks flowed and it was a much better night than anticipated. Dancing on tables, and mental games of 'Fives' and 'Never Have I Ever'. There was also a slightly adult version of Goldielocks and the Three Bears.........and I don't mean that anyone sat in my chair or ate my porridge.

The next morning, we had to hang around for the typhoon to calm down and then got a speedboat back to the mainland. The idea of a speedboat and a four hour bus journey didn't appeal to a few of us with a hangover so we once again carried on drinking. This included "Back Seat of the Bus" where we ended up with 17 on the back row.

That's about all for our Halong Bay trip and it was just what I was hoping for. Amazing scenery and a great group to party with. Couldn't have asked or anything more.

Hope everyone back home is good!!!

Josh