Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage in northeastern Vietnam featuring thousands of limestone rocks protruding out of the water. Our 3 day trip there was, for me, one of the highlights of our travelling so far. We were transported around the site on a boat that catered for our every needs (bedrooms with ensuite facilities, breakfast, lunch and dinner each day, ipod speakers, an abudance of alcohol).
We spent the first day kayaking in and out of the huge rocks towering above us, diving into the water whilst trying to avoid the numerous jelly fish awaiting us, and chilling on the deck whilst watching the sun go down. The Irish in the group brought everyone together in the evening with a karaoke session where Robbie took one for the team, singing his heart out to "Like A Virgin". The Americans among us sang "Born in the USA' and our faces dropped when they sang the line which makes a very unfortunate reference to fighting the Viet Cong. The night (for Robbie and I at least) ended with one of the waitresses on board screaming out a Vietnamese song. The Irish went up on deck and continued the party with drinking games til about 4am.
The next day the group split into 2 with half doing kayaking and the other half doing rock-climibing. I had paid for the rock-climbing and despite my worries about the extra money when booking the trip, was so pleased I did. It was an adrenelin-high day with 4 climbs and amazing views from the top of each one. While the Irish had stolen the show the night before with the karaoke, the Americans now came into their own, shouting up words of encouragement and advising where feet and hands should go to whoever was dangling on the rope. That evening, we anchored at Cat Ba Island, drank a few well deserved beers and tried the local rice wine. There was an amazing thunderstorm when leaving the bar with huge flashes of light illuminating the sky and in the middle of the night there was a powercut (noticeable because the air conditioning went off). I only got one hour's sleep so the return journey to Hanoi (some 7 hours on the boat and then a bus) didn't consist of much more than reading a bit and trying to sleep (unsuccessfully). I arrived in Hanoi feeling really terrible and then, to my horror, discovered I didn't have my bank or credit cards on me. I tried for the life of me to think what could have happened and then remembered I had taken them out of my wallet before going out "in case anything should happen". As there was no light when we got up at 6:30 due to the power cut, I had missed them when packing in the morning. I was in no state to sort the problem out but had to so went back to the hostel where we had booked the tour and got them to ring the hotel we were in on Cat Ba Island. I cannot really explain the relief I felt when the hotel confirmed the cards had been found. They should hopefully arrive with the guide from the tour after ours this afternoon. If this comes off, I am one very lucky girl (and if anybody knows me well, will realise I am on at least my 9th cat's life for incidences like these). If they do not arrive today, I will be very anxious whilst we are on our 4 day trip to Sapa which starts tonight with a night train.
