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Published: August 18th 2010
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We had booked a 3 day trip to Halong Bay through our hostel in Hanoi which started with a 3hr journey to the coast where we met the rest of our group. We then boarded the boat which took us across to the islands. When we arrived at the boat the weather wasn't looking too good around the islands but luckily by the time we arrived the sun was back out and we were able to enjoy the scenery.
After lunch on the main boat we were taken across to some caves on one of the islands, which were a bit disappointing but the view from the entrance made it worth the hike. The guide seemed to enjoy showing us the rock formations that apparently looked like animals.
The next activity turned out to be a lot more fun as we were given some time to explore the bay in some kayaks. Next stop was a small beach next to one of the islands which was a good chance to cool down and was the first time we'd been in the sea on our trip. The beach was a bit crowded with the other tours but we still enjoyed
it and the sea was nice and warm.
That night we stayed on the boat and got talking to the other English people on our boat as well as an Australian couple. The tour guide kept telling us that we would get a chance to do some fishing that evening so with the thoughts of catching a big fish we went down to the tender to be handed a piece of bamboo with a piece of string attached to the end with a hook and no bate. So as you can imagine we didnt catch a thing. The crew enjoyed a bit of karaoke as well (our guide had a bit of an obsession with Westlife).
The next day the tour took us to Cat Ba island which is the largest island in Halong Bay for a trek up a mountain. It had been raining through the night so the track had turned into a bit of a mud slide so it was pretty hard going, then once you reached the top there was the worlds most unsafe tower to climb. The view from the top was amazing but we didnt hang about on the tower!! There was
plenty of thunder and lightening going on so we started the descent which turned out to be harder than going up, every now and then we would hear Westlife coming from a mobile phone so we knew we were on the right track though. Laura had a little slip but soldiered on!!
We then checked into the hotel we were staying at for the night then once the rain had stopped again took a boat trip to monkey island. Where we had a quick swim and watched the monkeys fight amongst themselves. After a quick look around we went on a short boat ride through the island to drop off the English couple that were staying on a private island (which the hostel hadn't told us was an option!). That night we just chilled out in the hotel after another meal that was exactly the same as the last 3 we'd had. The final day was just the journey back to Hanoi but gave us another chance to see more of the islands.
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mum
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Hey you two expert travelers ! Got to see your monkey's Laura thats good. You look happy on the photo at the top of that risky tower was it histeria setting in HaHa Glad you are making friends along the way and having fun. The view down of the sea was lovely, bet you were enjoying the refreshing swim when you got to go in the water. Great stuff, hope the rest of it goes well and the weather settles. Lots of love mum xxx