I was picked up at my hostel in Hanoi, jumped on a bus and headed to Ha Long City, around three hours. From here I boarded the boat.
Our first destination was the Surprise Cave; this was cool but overly touristy... plus I'd seen it all at Phong Nha!
After, we jumped back on the boat and had lunch. The boat anchored up and we had the chance to swim in the bay, and kayak around, prior to our three hours of free booze starting!
The view around the bay really is stunning. This afternoon was easily the highlight of the time on the cruise.
After a few drinks people began to mingle a lot more, dancing ensued and overall a pretty decent night was had. The boat had sleeper accommodation, pretty nice little rooms with AC and en-suite, not too shabby...
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The next morning we ate our breakfast and were taken to Cat Ba island, near to the bay. We disembarked and were taken to a national park where we were told to either wait two hours or trek up a mountain. Despite feeling a little sorry for myself I did the trek.
We walked through a lush forest landscape to the top of a the mountain for the next hour - not exactly easy wearing a pair of thongs... The view up top was nice, and I like being active and feeling accomplished!
We hopped back on the bus and were taken to a hotel for lunch. The food was pretty average like the rest of what we'd been eating - not enough meat! From here our group was divided in three - not exactly sure why, perhaps due to how much people had paid for the trip...
Two groups stayed in hotels on the island while my group of eight was ferried back on another boat to the private Monkey Island bungalow resort.
Rocking up I was really excited to stay in what looked like a great place. Upon checking in we were shown to our room out in the sticks .. essentially a tin shed in a tiny room packed full of four bunk beds with barely enough room to turn around!
Luckily our group made the most of our stay here, and we all enjoyed a great buffet dinner with local food as well as bbq chicken breast - finally some meat!
The next day we reunited with the rest of the group, had an early lunch on board the party boat and headed back through the bay to the mainland.
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I spent the remaining two nights in Hanoi at a party hostel - Hanoi Rocks. This place was a brand new hotel converted hostel with proper hot showers with decent pressure, comfortable beds and cold AC - you don't often get all three in the same place!
I spent my last day in Hanoi at the cinema, watching San Andreas in a "4DX" theatre complete with moving/vibrating seats, blowing wind and smoke - pretty cool!
All in all I loved Vietnam. I made some good friends, saw some stunning sights on the bike, and ate some great food. However, two months is a long time in one country and I was definitely ready to leave!
The next morning I boarded my flight and was set off, back to Bangkok, ready to tackle the north of Thailand!
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