Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay was absolutely fantastic! We booked a 3 day, 2 night trip from Hanoi for $45/person and it was one of the best excursions we've done. The boat ride around the bay was gorgeous - beautiful cliffs jutting up from the water and covered with green shrubs. Someone told us there are 3,000 of these little islands.

Our group on the boat was a lot of fun too. We had lunch on the boat, soaked up some sun on the top deck, and explored a cave. We went kayaking at sunset and won the kayak race :) We slept on the boat the first night, and hung out on the top deck looking at the stars and listening to music. A full moon came out, and it was so peaceful and beautiful.

The second day, we cruised over to Cat Ba island for some trekking. The trek was ridiculous! Not what we were expecting. We climbed to the top of the mountain, saw a bunch of huge spiders with yellow or red dots on them on the way. The last 30 minutes of the trek, we climbed over jagged rocks and essentially rock climb up the walls with no proper gear or safety precautions. I don't think this would be allowed in the states, but we had a blast.

After the trek, we headed to the beach. Not many people were there at 2pm but as soon as the sun started to set, hoards of Vietnamese came out. The Vietnamese play in the water fully clothed (jeans and t-shirts) and even some were carrying umbrellas to protect them from the sun! That night we hung out at an Aussie bar, played foosball, and tried to stay up for the Italy-Spain football match, but didn't make it. 2 girls on the trip from Holland were very disappointed when their team lost - Euro 2008 is an exciting event here and people are really into it. We will try to catch the final on the 29th.

Overall, we met some great people from all over the world and really enjoyed our time! Now we are off to Hue on the overnight train.