Ha Long Bay

After all the excitement of two on a moto in suicidal traffic, taking Ken to the hospital and saying good bye to a roomie, Steph and I thought we'd head to the peaceful Ha Long Bay. It started with an early morning rise to pack. Hopefully the washing i sent back, that wasn't actually washed, would be ready??
After many unhappy phone calls, washing was packed, breakfast was scoffed and we were piled into a people mover and we were off. So we thought. We collected a few more of our group and were transfered to a bigger bus. This consisted of all 9 us being dragged agross a 6 lane freeway, in peak our traffic. As previously explained, this isn't really a concern. Just go, go, go and they will go around. Reassuring Steph of this is a bit harder and I always have to hold her hand and pull.
All good and now on a bigger bus, we head off on a 3 hour trip to get the boat in Ha Long City. Steph and I sat at the back of the bus...Bad mistake. We think our boobs are now 3 inches lower because we bounced around the back so much we spent majority of the trip air borne.
Finally, after a tissue tearing trip, we arrived at the dock and waited and waited and yet again waited for the captain to arrive with his Junk. In typical Vietnamese fashion he casually showed up and we were allowed to board the boat. There was a good group of us who were all spending the night on the junk. A family from Holland, a couple from China, another couple from Holland and Us! We started the trip by eating a fantastic lunch cruising in to Ha Long Bay and that is how we spent the remainder of the trip...eating! and cruising!
That afternoon I convinced Steph to face her fear and jump, from the roof of the boat, into open deep water. She did twice but yet again holding my hand.
I however forgot to mention, that only minutes before, we spoted a rather big and scary looking Jelly Fish. So I guess we both faced a fear!
We also looked around the Amazing Cave...and yes it was amazing!
They had filled it with lights of blue, red and yellow to emphasise certain rock formations that had special significance to Vitnamese people. There was one though that was bright red and looked just like a giant Penis...However, Bien our guide tried to avoid asking us what we thought that one looked like. Considering a large group of Aussies behind us screamed out "It's a Penis. A bloody big Penis" he was probably wise.
After a night staring at the amazing Krasts we were off to try our hand at kayaking. If anyone is aware, Steph and I have already sucessfully achieved sea kayaking on a previous trip to Mooloolaba. However, this involved solo kayaks and Champagne. So being together could have ended in tradgedy. Team Holland (the young couple) and team Oz were off. Zipping in and out of Krasts. Steph and I are not Olympic styled champions so we decided, and our declining stamina, we let team Holland win.
They weren't even sore the next day. We were happy to believe that the advantage of height and our lack of, was the reasoning behind this. Not that we are just unfit blobs.
It was nice that we all declined an afternoon of scampering up a mountain and took the option of a visit to the beach on Cat Ba Island. This is where we spent our second night.
The following morning...and more food...we had another early departure to meet the big boat for more swimming and Kayaking. We all declined that offer too and was happy to watch the Krasts go by and sleep until lunch...Even more food!
All before we got back on the bus (to let our boobs drop another 3 inches) back to Hanoi Capitol.