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Published: January 17th 2007
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We got picked up just after 8am & arrived at Ha Long City at about 11.30am; we had bumped into the Bristol Boys again but didn't expect them to be on the same boat as us, funny enough they were. They also managed to bump into Cliff Richard on the Pier & spoke to him & got a photo. I was so gutted that I had managed to walk past Sir Cliff & not even notice!
We had lunch on the boat & met two Irish girls, Sinead & Rachel, they were good fun so we after lunch the eight of us sat on the top deck & watched some of the three thousand islands pass us by, it was such a beautiful place, my photos don't do it justice. Ha Long Bay is another UNESCO world heritage site & it is easy to see why. We went to Sung Sot Cave in the middle of one of the rocks; it was amazing looking at the stalagmites & stalactites.
About 4pm the boat anchored & we got to go out in Kayaks which was great, when we had explored the area we came back to the boat & Claire
& I were two of five people to go swimming, the only two girls. It was freezing but totally worth it as we were only going to get this opportunity once.
I got back on the boat & went to go & get changed but as my feet were wet I managed to slip from the top to the bottom of the stairs, landing on every step on the way down. I cut my elbow & secured an amazing bruise on my bum that is so black I don't think I have ever had one like it!
The group then got spilt up as the boat was only big enough to sleep sixteen people so Claire, the Irish girls & I got on a separate boat to the Bristol boys. We had dinner & met an American couple, Shannon & Zack, they were good fun & we sat up chatting for a while.
After spending the night on the boat we got up at 7am & had breakfast whilst bobbing about just off the shore of Cat Ba Island. We then went on shore & checked into a hotel before going on a 4km trek up a
Our little group on the top deck of our boat
From left - Charlie, Rachel, Sinead, me, Zi, Pete & Rich jungle style mountain. The views from the top were good & the sun had even come out. We met some crazy old Australian men who were so funny, they kept running off, mocking a Vietnamese lady who was doing the trek in platform heels & a suit, & saying lunch was for wimps.
We had lunch at the hotel before getting on a boat to take us to Monkey Island where one of the residents decided he didn't want his photo taken with me & made a dive for my leg. I had to run towards the water & hope he stopped before I had to go into the sea fully clothed, luckily he did & everyone laughed at me.
Sinead, Rachel, Claire & I sat on the beach in the sun chatting before getting the boat back to Cat Ba Island. We had tea & bumped into our friend Justin from Ko Samet which was a nice surprise. After tea most of the group went over the road to a Karaoke bar which had a happy hour on beer & cocktails.
Claire talked me into doing a duet with her to Hotel California & we managed
to look complete idiots falling about with laughter, but it was good fun. I sat down & carried on chatting, Claire decided she had found a new love & would not leave the microphone; her performances included Lady In Red & Living on a Prayer.
Sinead & Rachel bet Claire 5 Euros that she couldn't go the whole of the following day talking in an Irish accent, she managed 20 minutes. We met loads more people which I have to say is my favourite part of travelling, (along with seeing all these wonderful places obviously), we got our photo taken with a Harry Potter look-alike & eventually got thrown out the bar as the man wanted to go to bed.
Wednesday morning I felt so tired although I didn't feel ill, Claire felt a bit ill & had managed to re-start the bet, talking in an Irish accent, she did really well & lasted till about 11am! We slept on the boat & drank tea as it was a bit cold. We had lunch at a restaurant back on the mainland at Ha Long City before getting the bus back to Hanoi before getting the night train to Lao Cai.
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Andrea, Germany
non-member comment
Lucky
Ouuh you lucky girls bumped into Sir Cliff?! Great :o) Have a good journey home! kind regards far away from germany! ;o)