Today we journeyed to Ha (decending) Long (dragon) Bay.
Early pick up by our guide Trouc and good chats while we waited for the bus (he has a new baby son and very proud - cute). On the bus everyone in our group of 20 or so people were checking each other out, a bit quiet and shy and wondering how the three days were going to go. A small girl threw up and Bray helped - from his long history of motion sickness!
To the pier in Ha Long with the HORDES!! Trouc brought Bray a 'brother' then - Cedric from Paris who works designing men's fashion. Brothers because tanned and both needing a shave!!
By this time we were making connections with the rest of the group - kind of essential as we were about to spend so much time together! We had a couple from Holland (policeman and psych student - who loved games...she and I made sure cards and other games made an appearance!), a Swedish couple (He was actually Italian with PhD in malaria and hers on cancer), two loved-up young Canadian couples from Montreal, a mother/2yo son and grandparents from Malaysia, two Swiss sisters, Giuseppe the Italian and his Parisian mate...plus Cedric the fashion designer and us two Kiwis.
Onto our boat and to a MASSIVE cave - hordes of tourists but interesting nonetheless. Then we kayaked near the cave for 40-50 mins or so before taking our boat to a secluded spot for swimming. We jumped off the second storey of the boat!!! It was HIGH. Bray wowed everyone with his back flips and Roni got through her fear of deep water to join the peeps in the warm water. It was beautiful - amazing scenery, warm water and good times.
After dinner we got a group of 9 playing Scum (the card game - we taught them) on the roof until after 11pm. Good times!!
