Early on Saturday morning we were picked up for our three hour minibus ride to Halong Bay. It was a fairly good journey with a stop for a coffee along the way. We waited at the port for a while for our guide and when the group (about 20 of us) were together, we were taken out to our junk on a tender. Our cabin was a nice surprise (bigger than some of the hotel rooms we've had!) and with a shared balcony at the back and Liam had his own twin cabin next door. After lunch we headed out into the Bay. Ha Long Bay was beautiful, despite the foggy and drizzly weather, which seemed to make it all even more mysterious.
In the afternoon we were taken to the Surprising Cave and later we all went kayaking, Liam sharing his kayak with one of our fellow passengers, a Japanese guy. We all got soaked.
I was glad to get back to the boat for a hot shower and to warm up before dinner. There was no danger of us starving; boats followed us around selling provisions. The next morning after breakfast we 'checked out' of our cabins, settled our drinks bills and cruised back to the port. There was a bit of excitement when the tender driver came into the port a little too fast and hit another boat, but as with all accidents in Vietnam, any damage is just shrugged off. We were taken for lunch at a nearby restuarant before our journey back to Hanoi. We met Sarah and Alison, two sisters from Australia and the conversation soon melted away the journey back to the city. Cliff left his hat on the bus (again) and sadly, this time there was no reunion.
One more night in Hanoi and it was off to China.
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