Mathew

Finally for the last few days the rain and storms have left and we have been blessed with GLORIOUS sunshine.
Arriving in Ha Noi at 6am from a 12hour bus trip, it was a pleasant surprise to have to squint and shade my eyes from not the rain but the sun.
Staggering around the city looking for a hotel we bumped into someone just opening for the day who has room for $7 a night. So parking the kit their I proceeded to pass out on the bed for several hours, followed by several hours spent exploring the city.
Taking full advantage of the sun and good weather, we took a trip to Halong Bay which is a bay located in north Vietnam
Boarding a 'junk' we set sail for the more remote parts of the bay, exploring the caves and enjoying a lunch of tofu, fish and rice (which while being a bit basic I feel sad to admit that the taste and texture of tofu is slowly growing on me). After lunch was finished we chugged over to a calm area of the sea where we spent an hour kyacking and enjoying a very early sunset. The rest of the evening was spent counting stars, eating more fish rice and tofu and convincing the captain that the generator needed to be left on for another hour so that we could have a hot shower. We lost and the water was cold.
The following day we set sail for 'Cat Ba Island' where we visited the nation park and climbed to the top of a lookout post before spending the rest of the day at the beach! :)
The final day of the tour was spent travelling back to HoLong bay having some lunch and then travelling back to Ha Noi.
The plans for the following days include a trekking experdition to 'Sapa' leaving tonight we will travel on an overnight train further north into northen Vietnam highlands, meeting and greeting with local hill tribes before returning to Ha Noi for one final day before flying off to Hong Kong.
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