We left Hanoi the next day to drive out to Ha Long Bay. An overnight boat like a floating hotel all to ourselves out between the peaks of a world heritage sight :) Brilliant! We visited a cave (not as good as blue mountains though), ate some lovely seafood, went kayaking and swam in the clear water and drank, danced and lay under the stars at night. Lots of fun :D

By the time we got up in the morning we were almost back to shore. Breakfast on the boat and back to the madness of Hanoi. A few of us decided to take a walk in the afternoon to find the 'Hanoi Hilton'. Not as glamorous as it sounds it was used as a jail during the many wars and famously held John Mcabe and other US pilots during the Vietnam war. Our first attempt at trying to work out the history of Vietnam. Not an easy task :-/. It was also hot! An ice cream stop was very welcome afterwards at Fannys ice cream shop. :)

That night we were booked in for a water puppet show. I was a bit sceptical and to be honest I was not very impressed :-/ It involved little wooden puppets controlled by sticks that ran under a curtain at the back of a pool of water. Granted the music was good but the puppets, not so much :( A nice meal afterwards made up for it though :)