Halong Bay for Leah's 26th!

When you are meeting loads of travelers everyday, you often find yourself in the same conversation about the same topic...travel: where ya been? where ya going? whats a must? whats a miss? Anyone we have met that has been anywhere in, near, or around Hanoi has insisted many times that we MUST do the cruise through Halong Bay when we get to Hanoi and we MUST book it through Hanoi Backpackers Hostel. They would go on for 20 minutes about the beauty they had seen, the people they had met, and the fun times they had. So we made it our mission to make it to Hanoi and be cruising through the bay by September 5th for Leah's Birthday! The trip started off a little shaky when we unloaded the overnight bus to Hanoi to find our bags drenched and reeking of fish...not the best thing at 6am. We stank up the entire lobby of the hostel trying to sort out what could be salvaged and what needed to be rushed to the laundry and re-packing our bags into trash bags.

Unloading in the middle of the hostel lobby

Our new luggage

We spent that day in Hanoi doing some shopping, picking up some necessities for the trip: aka T-Shirt Towels, and preparing for our departure bright and early the next morning! We were picked up from the hostel at 7am and made the 4 hour drive to the port of Halong Bay where we were herded onto boats to be taken out to our home for the next couple of days!

Ready to Board!

We had to show up in the proper attire

We were sailing for about 2 hours before we made our first stop, where we spent an hour playing in the water and jumping off of the top of the boat!

 We then loaded up in Kayaks and started cruising through the Bay. First stop: a cave

Both our first time in a cave!

After exploring the cave, which is not so easily done in flip flops, it was back into the kayaks to continue paddling through this scenery...

Halong Bay

To get to this floating village...where some of the inhabitants have never seen dry land!

Leah nor I had ever been kayaking before, but we both really loved it and are going to try to find more places to do it along the rest of our trip! Once the kayak tour was over it was back to the boat for showers, dinner, and of course card games and dancing. We were all on guard watching the clock to celebrate the turning of Leah's Birthday at midnight!

Celebrating the stroke of midnight!

The next day we were woken up at the crack of dawn again for breakfast and to board the boat that would dump us on "Castaway Island." Its a deserted island with open air huts jammed full of mattresses, a couple of bath houses, and a big pavilion used for food and hanging out. We had our own private beach, equipped with a volleyball court, badminton sets, kayaks, and a floating barge out in the water. We had the whole day to do whatever we wanted including joining in on some water sports! Hayley and I chose the easy road and picked ole'fashion tubing, while Leah was feeling more ambitious and took a shot at wake boarding!

Hayley and the boys turn

My turn!

The death of my 3 yr old Greek Key ring

We spent the rest of the day resting in the sun, followed by dinner and more games and dancing with the 30 or so other castaways! We were woken up far too early by the big metal gong the next day and had to board the boat to be taken back to dry land, to make the 4 hour drive back into Hanoi. We left a little dehydrated, a lot sleep deprived, and with many bumps, scrapes, burns, and cuts! But it was all worth it!! I can't imagine a better way to celebrate Leah's Birthday!!! I would do it all over again in a heart beat if we had the time...and the money of course! Here are some more shots of Halong Bay that I got from one of the better photographers on board...