May 14th. We had an easy start to the day, we hung out at Lai's. His sister in law cooked us lunch and he had 2 friends come over. They are an Australian couple,who've been living in Hanoi for 2 months, they plan to stay a year. In the evening we went into town for beer and dinner with another of Lai's friends. A nice relaxed day.
We were up early the next day for the start of our Hai Long Bay tour. We caught the bus into the centre of Hanoi and then went to the tour office. Onto another bus and out to the boat port. This place is so busy, I think the world and his mother comes here,and everyone takes a boat. So we get on and get our assigned berths, which weren't bad,especially as we had a private bathroom. I have real issues with public toilets, so it was nice. And off we went, first to a huge cave that we got to walk around in. The tour guide kept pointing out various creatures in the stone, but I just couldn't see them.Then it was a cruise through the island, which are lovely,but really reminded me of the trip I took to see James Bond island in Thailand.
Late afternoon we got to go sea kayaking and swimming.The afternoon consisted of karaoke,cards and drinking. I think ours was the party boat as all of the others had shut off their lights before we went to sleep. The next morning was spent cruising back to the port, and then back to Hanoi. A short trip, but all that was needed I think. After all,if you've seen 1 island, you've seen them all!!(Not really,but it did feel a little like that!)
Early evening we rush back to the tour office and get hustled off to the train station for the night train to Sapa. The tour worker was useless and totally unorganised, he made me afraid that we were going to miss our train. But it worked out and on we got for the trip north.