Vietnam. Halong Bay.

With our new group we joined the tourist trail to Ha Long Bay. I had no idea what Ha Long Bay was until I googled it a couple of days ago as the other members of our old group were really sad that they couldn't fit it in their trip. So it is a bay with 1996 limestone kasts jutting out of the sea. It is the same kasts that we have seen all over Laos and Vietnam. It was a four hour drive to the port and it was such a tourist trail. There were so many buses and coaches taking tourists to the bay. We had a really cute guide who kept the bus ride interesting though. We arrived at the bus port / cattle market and found our tender to take us to our boat. 

We got to our boat and it was a very pleasant surprise! The dining area was very posh and it had a sun deck on the roof! I wasn't expecting much from the cabins, bunks was what I was expecting, but it was amazing! Twin beds and en suite with a real shower! Very exciting! 

We set off sailing into the bay and had an amazing lunch with a spectacular view. There was an interesting traffic jam with all the tourist boats heading in through the kasts. 

After lunch we kyacked through the kasts. Through tunnels and into caves and then through fishing villages. The villages were really interesting and crazy how they live in tiny huts on the water for most of the time. They had dogs and TVs and even karaoke bars. 

After this we took a walk up a steep hill to get some good views over the bay. After the long climb we got some great views over the bay. 

We got some great views of the sunset too over the kasts it was beautiful. 

After a few drinks on the sun deck we had another amazing meal. They just kept bringing out more and more plates of amazing food. After dinner I got addicted to squid fishing! We had bamboo rods with hooks that apparently looked like prawns which is what the squid like to eat. They are attracted to the light on the boat and we had to lure them up. When one was close to the hook we had to yank it up to try and hook it on. I caught the first one! It was only small and I completely freaked out when I got it but I was impressed! Lunch for someone the next day! 

Only one other squid was caught as they seemed to be hiding! I got another one but it escaped after I pulled it out of the water in a inky explosion. I also got two others that I just missed but inked at my rod! 

We slept on the hardest beds and then had to get up super early to go and see the Amazing Caves. They were just some big caves full of tourists and lots of stalactites and stalagmites. It was cool but a bit like Wookey Hole minus the amusement arcades. 

After another amazing meal for lunch we headed back to shore and the boat got ready for it's next group of passengers. It's big tourist business! We drove back to Hanoi and got ready to board the sleeper train to Hue.