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Boat trip! This morning we headed north to Ha Long Bay for an overnight trip in the bay on a junk. The drive went quick because of the scenery. I love driving through a new country and staring at all the new sights of the countryside, local farmers, rice paddies, and a dead cow on the back of a motorcycle. Almost anything on the back of a moto can be amusing here.
We arrived at Halong Bay around noon. After boarding, we got settled in our rooms. I have my own room! :) Lunch was interesting. I had a lot of tofu and rice. After lunch, I sat up top and read, sunned for about ten minutes and then decided it was too hot. Halong Bay is incredible! It reminds me of some of the cliffs near Ko Phi Phi in Thailand, but the bay is full of them! There are so many little islands and cliffs and peaks and the water is gorgeous too. I keep expecting a pirate ship to come slowly sailing around the corner!
When we got pretty far out into the bay, we stopped at the Surprise Caves to walk through, before getting back on the boat. Apparently the caves are called the surprise caves because they didn’t know they were there, and then “surprise” they found them… hmmm… After the caves, we went back out into the bay and stopped to swim. I asked one of the crew if I could jump off the top of the junk. He said “uhhh… ask your trip leader.” She wasn’t in eye sight, so I just went up and jumped. Hahaha, because I’m a bad ass, lol. (Actually, I’d heard from other travelers that jumping off the boat is one of the really fun things about visiting the bay.) Man up, boys! ;) Anyway, the water was really salty, but it was really nice to spend some time in the water. After swimming, we sat on the deck and drank Vietnamese beers until dinner. So far my favorite is Tiger, followed by Biere Larue. Dinner was more variations of tofu and rice. So far, I’m not too fond of my food choices here in Vietnam. After dinner, we went back to the deck to drink more beers and tell jokes. Brian, from one of the older Kiwi couples, tells the most hilarious jokes, and his accent kills me. Anyway, it was a really fun night, I haven’t laughed this much for a few weeks.