Heavenly Halong Bay....

Up early again for breaky and at the bus office by 7.30. We are heading to Halong Bay for a 3 day & 2 night boat tour of what we have been told is one of the must see places in Vietnam & one of the new 7 wonders of the world. We headed off on a mini bus with 15 others & our our cool tour guide Dung (pronounce Zoong, which he was quick to point out). We had a 20 minute break at this disabled workshop that makes all sorts of arts & crafts & also the most amazing marble statues which we thought a few around the house would be pretty cool. Anyway we got to Halong Bay at about 12pm and 5 of the people left us as they were only doing a day tour. We got a tender to our boat called Halong Dragon Cruise & headed off on the bay. The scenery is pretty amazing and hard to explain. If you google Halong Bay you will see just how gorgeous it is. The weather is a bit rainy today but is actually makes it all very mystical. We had lunch which wasn't that great. Our first stop were caves which I can't remember the name but in English it translates to Amazing Caves....and yes they are right, they are quite spectacular. It took about half an hour to walk through them and lots of photos were taken. Back on the boat and to a little beach where we had 45 mins to swim &/or walk to the top of this really high lookout.....so of course we wanted to do both so off we went up the steps to what seemed like Mount Everest. When we got to the top the view was beautiful & worth the trek. Although when I said the other day in Hoi An that I had never sweated so much...well I just surpassed that by a mile....OMG it was hot....even Tanya who doesn't sweat, was sweating. So down the steps again (425 each way to be exact) & into the water for a well deserved paddle. Back on the boat again & now to go kayaking for half an hour....by now I am thinking I have booked us on a bloody adventure tour....lol. We kayaked through a neat cave and into a secluded inlet (well as secluded as you can feel with 20 other kayakes doing the same thing). Once again back on the boat but this time it was shower time....aahhhhhh we were so looking forward to a cool shower.....but that hope was ruined when all we got was really hot water....bloody hell, who has ever not had cold water. So we had to get Dung to have a look at it but I think he had no idea so he just kept it running until it cooled of enough to get in. Then it was time to have a spring roll demo which we got to eat and Dung made those really cool flowers out of carrots & a swan out of a tomato....he is multi talented that's for sure. Dinner was served & it was great....finally. We have also hung out with an English girl, Zoe, who is really nice. After dinner, Dung told us to come on the tender with the crew, where they were eating dinner as he wanted us to see the duck embryo they were eating. Tanya has had it before with her stepmum as it is a Philipino dish as well. I think it is disgusting but Tanya had a go yet again. We also tried some rice wine, which tastes like metho. After chatting to them for a while headed up the top for a drink & more chatting with Zoe till it was time for bed. Our room is nice but the bed feels like a slab of cement....we have learnt that the Vietnamese must love rock hard beds as we have not had many that are softer than what we would consider very firm......but the pillows were soft...lol. No service here in the middle of the bay so you will be reading a couple of days together. Alvo xo