Hanoi and Ha Long Bay

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We finally arrived in Hanoi after a 16hr bus journey and had now travelled from the South to the North of Vietnam in 6 days. Officially a whistle stop tour, but we still had the best to look forward to - Ha Long Bay. On arrival we walked to our hostel in sweltering heat (...and got lost), roamed the manic streets of Hanoi, and searched far and wide for Susan's craving of French fries! We also ended up meeting the same group of people from Loughborough Uni at our hostel, where we enjoyed a few drinks and where some eccentric dancing lead to Sophia incurring a foot injury!

The next day, we had another early start to make our way to Ha Long Bay. The team organiser was our Vietnamese friend, Tony. We were greeted with cold facecloths and a delicious lunch, before setting sail and seeing the truly beautiful Ha Long Bay - luxury! Many activities followed, such as exploring amazing caves, relaxing kayaking (...or crashing), topped off by spectacular dives/belly flops off the top of the boat and swimming in the warm sea to enjoy the amazing sunset. The games began after dinner with beer pong. Zoe was paired with the infamous Tony, adopting a strategy of heckling to put off their opponents. But it was Tara and her partner who were crowned champion (hope you're proud mum and dad)! This was after Susan lost her game against 2 boys, and in her anger threw a glass of water over them, misdirecting it to hit Tara in the face... Later Tony joined us for some dancing where we exchanged dance moves. We slept on the boat in the middle of Ha Long Bay, and had the most spectacular view to wake up to.

On Saturday, we made our way to a private island, but first tried a bit of rock climbing and cliff jumping into the water. You will be glad to hear that none of us attempted the highest one at 14 metres! When we reached the island, we were in complete luxury with our own little bungalow right on the beach. That night we enjoyed a very chilled evening, sitting by the bonfire while watching the silent lightning storms overhead. It was all very surreal.

Sunday - our half way point of the trip! None of us wanted to leave the beautiful secluded island and our wish almost came true when the boat taking us away ran aground! After that obstacle, we got back on our original boat where we concluded we were being stalked... by the same group of people from Loughborough Uni! Our final activity was making spring rolls before saying goodbye to one of the natural wonders of the world.

Lots of Love,

Tara xxxxxxxx

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