Boat time!

Dragon Cruise. Well well well. We start off getting picked up, and as we hesitate at the curb our guy tells us in Hanoi, you just step out, if you hesitate you'll be there forever. After we pick everyone else up, we're on a 4 hour drive to Ha Long bay. A little boat takes us to the Dragon Cruise junk boat, and we get our room keys and take our things down. Me and Claire are in one room and Mash gets his own this time, and it's huge, the biggest on the boat. Jealousy until we feel how solid the beds are. Our little singles are like clouds compared to his. Oh well.

Lunch time, and they start bringing out food, and don't stop bringing for a solid 30 minutes, there is SO MUCH to eat. And all of it is delicious of course. I ate a clam. First time. Yum. Some of the best spring roll things I've tasted. After feast #1 it's time for the 'Surprising Cave'. Another little boat takes us over to the entrance, and stairs stairs stairs, and we're there. it's like walking into Star Wars or something, well, the first section is just your average cave, then you go through a human sized walkway and then it's like Star Wars. Our guide guy stops to tell us about what the rock formations resemble, a few of them I get but half the time I miss where he pointed. He says, 'I show you most surprising yet' and when we go through the walkway, highlighted in a red light coming out of a big column, is a weener. And they highlighted it with a red light. Very funny. You may have noticed in the pictures, if I remember to put it on. (I'm writing this on the bouncy bus back to Hanoi-yay 4 hours of bumpy roads) The roof of the cave looks like a tub of ice-cream with spoon marks in it, and lucky it's a one-way walkthrough cos there's so many people going through. Including a a group of elderly Chinese women posing with the diddle rock heh heh.

Then back on the boat to kayaking. Claires feeling a bit ill so she sits out - a bit too much fried stuff and perhaps the malaria pills, not too serious we hope. so me and Mash go for a little explore round the islands, and get to a cave bit that goes through to the other side, but a lady tells us we have to pay 10,000 dong to go through, WTF. Why would I have my wallet in the kayak with me. So we don't get to go. Ah well. Tiring business this kayaking. We have to wait for a couple to get back, turns out they accidentally went past our boat (easy to do, we we're amidst the floating village) and saw 2 Vietnamese guys having a punch up, which turned into a plank throwing fight. Excitement. Then back to the Dragon boat for a free wine and swimming. Everyones jumping off the end of the boat, and Mash the naughty NZer jumps off the second storey balcony. It's so salty and warm, but nice at the same time.

We have some chill time then dinner at 7. A buffet, oh yes. I'm up for a second helping before anyone else has even finished. Go me, but jesus theres so much food and it's awesome. mmm. Zoom (our guide, I have no idea how to actually spell it, probably Xium or something, plus a few accents, who actually told us his name was spelt Dung but call him 'Zoom') informs us of Karaoke in 30mins, so we can all get to know each other hahaha. I'm thinking, well if you want everyone overboard and swimming for their lives, gimme the microphone, but that wouldn't be ideal so I definitely do not have a go. Besides, I've only had 2 beers, so I still know I can't sing. Zoom sings a few numbers in Vietnamese then says when he sings an English one, it means it's our turn. So he sings that 'When I was just a little girl' song. Very funny-making. One lady from Singapore sings a few, and while she's singing we hear the other boats near us have the same thing going on, and the one closest obviously drew the short straw haha, but at least everyones having fun. Then the guy who is as tall as Clint Eastwood has had enough booze to go back on his 'never gunna do it' and ends up singing about 7 songs. Well done.

Squid fishing is also an activity, but the people who have been down there for about an hour have come up empty handed, so down we go to have a try. It takes forever, but Mash is the first to get one, and Zoom runs off with it saying he'd grill it and bring it back. With chilli sauce. But Mash is a big girls blouse and says he doesn't want it, so some India-born German living in Spain eats half, then Mash does wanna eat the rest, and says it tastes ok, but hopefully it doesn't 'do' anything to him...3 spews at 3am later...But I catch one too! Yuss! It took about 50 minutes of holding my bamboo stick with a line and hook on the end in the water, jiggling it about, and pulling it out suddenly when they were near it to try skewer it, but success! I did it! Yarr. I didn't eat it tho, they took them all to the kitchen and mut have frozen them or the staff ate them or something, I never saw it again. They spray their ink when you get them, and once they're out of the water they make this weird splurting/sucking sound, apparently they're still trying to spray ink at you, and I guess it's also them suffocating. Boo.

Gotta get up early the next day, breakfast then to Cat Ba island, where we take another super bumpy ride to another port and to another boat, throught another flaoting village, then finally to Monkey Island. Mash has a swim then we all walk up the walk where the monkeys are supposed to be. I give up when I realise the path looks like a rockfall waiting to happen, but it was wicked views from there anyway. And the others coming down said there wasn't a monkey in sight. So me and Claire go back to the hut you can get drinks at, and Voila, monkeys. Theres a big male one, then on the other side there's a female, then this baby one, holding a green cap scampers around a bit, and then one that possibly thinks it's a cat shows itself. Huh, kinda glad I didn't attempt to scale that mountain thing then.

Lunch on this boat, feast #3. Then the we dock and the staff have lunch, and now it's time for a 12km bike ride. In the sun. And the heat. Oh lordy. We buy Vomle-esk party hats and it's all go. No gears, half flat tires, hills, no helmets, goats on the road. Awesome. Friggin awesome. Claires hat blows off one too many times and the guy supposed to be following us on a scooter tells her she has to get on with him, and they leave us to it. Lucky it was after we got to the fork in the road, even though it turned out they both went to the same place. We are dropping off 2 Australians at their overnight bungalow in the wops pretty much. Sunrise Resort time for us! We walk into the lobby part and in first 3 minutes some waiter comes out with cold facecloths and a complementary drink. Don't mind if I do. Swim time! There's loungers all lined up along the beach, and some weird pop-dance music blaring out over everyone. Some old dude kicked sand at me as I was walking to the sea. Asshole! Well, coulda been the kid but still, asshole! The sea is packed with people, we found out it's the school holidays so everyone else is on holiday too. Into the pool, where we see 2 kids start drowning in the space of 10 minutes. They don't drown, but geez get them to Aquazone or something, this shits deep!

Anyway, dinner time, set menu, and since I'm the only non sickie I eat enough for all of us, which includes prawns and shrimp. Goin all out on the seafood here, and by golly it's fantastic. After tea we go back to the room and do lazy things so the others can not feel crap the next day, watching a movie and the old X-men cartoon. I get to talk to Sam too, which is excellent apart from the fact the STUPID ash cloud means he can't come on the flight that was to get him here on Friday. Eff you ash. Sad times indeed, but he will get here! Another funny thing is, I lost the only hair tie and only clip I bought with me, but my hair still stays up in a bun with nothing to hold it...I'm assuming the sweat is keeping it steady. Grossy. Buffet breakfast - how is everyone in this country not obese, theres so much food everywhere, I think I've put on at least 4kgs - then rendevouz with Zoom and the others from various locations, back over the bumpy bumpy roads, I swear I'll be looking like the >lady on the right< soon, if the rest of Vietnam roads are the same. Back to the boat, and off to Ha Long to meet Zooms girlfriend at the resuratnt for lunch. And who do we bump into while we wait for the bus?

Daisys Fam! What are the odds. We talk to them and Daisys sister Hannah,  >heres her website<  tells me she has a gig in London on the 14th of July, so hopefully I can get to that too. Bit of NZ music would be nice to go see. And now here we are. On the bus again. Back to Beep-city.