Hanoi
In Hanoi our rooms weren't ready so we all had to share a room for a few hours, quite fun actually, we watched a Bond, A View to a Kill, with the best line ever 'the bubbles tickle my...Tchaikovsky' hehe. In the afternoon Becky, Valentina and I had a wander over to an island temple where we burned some lucky money and looked out for giant turtles - it's lucky to see them cos of a legend: something about a golden turtle who took a sword down to the depths. Then we saw the water puppets show, i think i'd seen one before and it was as i'd expected, some of it good but sometimes boring cos we had no idea what the stories were about. Everyone else pretty much hated it. Ah well.
Halong Bay
More ABC game playing on the bus. Had to do a bit of an obstacle course to reach our boat at the port, but well worth it cos we had one to ourselves and it was really nice. Halong Bay is gorgeous, as all the movies and photos show really. Beautiful. Apparently formed after the last ice age, hence the weird and wonderful shapes. Had a seafood lunch on board then we reached an island you could enter, some pretty incredible caves. I thought they looked like something out of Armageddon or something sci-fi. There was a funny penis shaped rock. And lots more rocks that apparently looked like things that i just couldn't see. No imagination. Back on the boat, we went swimming, loooovely. Dived off the front of the boat. Some of the selling boats came by - we were bemused cos how did they expect us to pay wearing swimwear?? Then we arrived at Cat Ba Island where we were to stay the night. Becks and i were on the 5th floor with no lift, ew. We had our last group meal cos Matt was leaving early on our last night the next day, then on to a bar where table football, chess and pool were played.
The next day we went sea kayaking, 2 person ones, much more fun, Becky and i were in one together and we sing-songed all the way to and from Monkey Island, which had actual monkeys on it. Hayley and i were very excited at the thought that it might be the Monkey Island from the computer game, love it. Played in the sea, got chased by monkeys.
Back in Hanoi, the traffic was shocking as ever, especially after the tranquility of Halong Bay. Had our last last supper :( and accidentally bought lots of cheap dvds - allll the seasons of Ally McBeal (sooo excited!), all the Lord of the Rings, X-Men 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and...Hairspray!!! Woo!
Sigh. Last day and Becky and I flew to Kuala Lumpur and she went on to London and home. End of a fabulous trip. Great group, lovely place, lots of fun.
