The final stretch...

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So we got up bright and early to catch our bus to Halong Bay for our 2 day trip. After checking out of our room and waiting patiently for half an hour we were informed that the trip had been cancelled due to the weather!! Typical! Another day in beautiful Hanoi! To top it off the room we had just checked out of had been reserved for someone else and we would have to wait an hour to try an get another one. So we strolled around trying to amuse ourselves in the rain and came up with a grand plan to hide away from the residents of Hanoi for the day. So upon getting another, smaller room we found a place that rented dvd players for the day, got some snacks and set up camp in our room with our new box of prison break. We know this is bad beyond words yet if you had met the average occupant of Hanoi you would understand. You are more likely to get a smile and hello out of a tortured puppy! We had a great day in the end and found a good little place to eat in the evening. We had earlier picked up some tickets for a water puppet show (the traditional theatre over here) which we thought would give a go for some evening entertainment. We were shocked to find it was actually quite good if a bit wierd.
Take two on the Halong Bay trip, thankfully this time with a bit more success. The three hour bus drive there was pretty painless. We were then shown to our boat with the 16 other people on our boat. the dining room looked lovely as we sat down for our lunch. We were a little unnerved by the crazy Australians sat opposite us frantically cleaning everything, from their seat to plate and cutlery with their big pack of baby wipes. The meal was basic to say the least (the itenery said sumptious seafood lunch, hmmm...we had tofu and spam put in front of us) made all the better by their constant moaning...Halong Bay itself however was beautiful and our first point of call after cruising through some limestone islands (there are just short of 2000 in total) was a huge cave within one of them. The cave was a bit busy at first but once we had battled past the old fat people struggling up the stairs we could really explore in quieter environment. It was a pretty impressive cave with great views of the water upon leaving. Next we stopped off to get some Kayaks and were able to roam free for 40 minutes exploring this islands a little closer. We then moored up elsewhere to settle in for a night. Before dinner we noticed the uptight Australians (who seemed to have not participated in anything and had constantly been complaining of being ripped of) were settled in their room sharing a bottle of Vodka. At dinner we were lucky enough to enjoy their company once again, and it was obvious the alcohol was starting to get the better of them. There was no cleaning of anything and they seemed to dig in with the platters to share with their fingers, while asking on many occasions where we were from!!! The poor guy sat next to the lady even got up and left. Most of the evening was spent sat around in the main room just chilling out. This was until about 9 o'clock when the entertainment started in the form of the now extremely drunk lady. She was like a wannabe stand up comedian and with the attention of everyone on board even 'freestyle rapped' for us about her current boating experience. It was so funny we were weeping (not with her but at her) and to top it all off we have it on camera. It is just a shame we dont know her name to tag her. Unfortunaltely as she kept on drinking she turned from funny to rude, and it was evident that she had never left Australia before. We finally settled into our room with the resident cockroaches which had set up camp in the bathroom. it took Sam 15 minutes to pluck up the guts to go to the loo. Despite the rattling generator we were sleeping next to we slept well and woke up to a stunning view. This morning was basically spent chilling on top of the deck in the sun while we made our way back to shore. We had an en mass tourist lunch before our journey back to Hanoi. We are now settled back into our hotel with the daunting task of packing and in shock that it is only two more sleeps until we are home. We have our flight to Bangkok tomorrow afternoon, and then a final night in Bangkok before our morning flight home on tuesday. Sam says Grandma get the cauldron going, she wants some sunshine!!!

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