Halong Bay / Hoi An

We booked Halong Bay through Hanoi backpackers so it was all young people on the boat. Would have liked to have done 2 nights, 3 days but only had enough time to do 1 night, 2 days. There were 31 people on the boat so over the 2 days we spoke to a fair few of them! On the first day we got on to the 'Jolly Rogger' and had lunch (which was delicious) , then we checked in to our rooms. We got some time to jump off the boat and swim, luckily I didn't see any jellyfish. Then we kayaked (yes me I kayaked) and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, having kayaked only once before with guides! We kayaked over to a cave and had to crawl through in the dark, stupidly me and Michelle were both wearing flip flops. At the end of the cave there was a fresh water pool. Apparently reminence of pre historic man have been found in some of the caves. Then we kayaked back, which was a work out and a half but we got back in the end. Then we had a shower and had dinner (again delicious). After dinner we chilled up on the top deck, then the drinking games began....... The usual ring of fire was replaced by dragon of fire and the rules were slightly worse. Then we spent the rest of the night drinking, dancing and chatting, spending most of our time with two posh 18 year old boys (who made me feel extremely old), a Canadian girl and 2 girls from New Zealand. Lots of people stayed up till 5am but seeing as we had to get up at 7am the next day I decided to hit the hay at 2am and get a few hours sleep. The next day we chilled on the deck and travelled back to Hanoi.

Two photos of Halong Bay:

We had some dinner and then thought we were getting a pick up to go to our night bus, infact they sent two motorbikes, no helmets and expected us to get on with our backpacks! In Hanoi, are you serious? We eventually managed to get a free car to the bus, I think the man was a bit annoyed with me seeing as he shouted ''free taxi'' in my face. The night bus was more comfortable than the last one and not as long, so was ok. They still insisted on playing the tv very loudly at the beginning, and even put flashing green and red rave lights throughout the bus, but it didn't go on for too long so we got some sleep. We then had to get a bus from Hue to Hoi An and ended up paying an extra 4 dollars because we couldn't find the bus we were meant to be on, seeing as they dropped us at a random hotel and not the bus station it was a bit difficult.

We found a nice hotel in Hoi An for 6 dollars each a night and there's even a pool. We've been hassled quite a bit in Hoi An and again theres alot of motorbikes, but apart from that it seems nice! Shame we only have time to stay for 1 night.I went a bit over budget today and got a red coat and brown boots tailored, Hoi An is famous for it! I decided it was ok as I need to buy them anyway for winter in Leeds. Together they cost 70 dollars, so just over 50 pounds, tomorrow we go to pick them up so hopefully they fit well! We are also doing a cooking class tomorrow before getting ANOTHER night bus to Nha Trang.