In the morning Olivia and I went to find breakfast. Outside we ran into Bac and told him that we wanted to find a bakery. Some of the places he tried to take us to were closed because of Tet. Finally we found one and got some bread to take along for our drive to Halong Bay. We checked out of the hotel but left our bags there because we would be returning to the hotel. The bus ride wasn't too bad. Along the way we stopped at a rest area that sold artwork and souvenirs for sale, most made by handicapped workers. The rest of the way I slept until we arrived to Halong. There, our group split up because there were 2 options. The regular tour was 4 hours on a boat and staying on the mainland. The add-on option was a cruise and overnight on a boat plus kayaking and going to a cave. I decided to do the add-on as well as 12 others.
Before we got on the boat, Olivia and I bought big bottles of water. I also saw sunglasses for sale and bought a pair. We got on a small boat to take us to our overnight boat. It was quite nice inside. We were given welcome drinks and introduced to the staff on board before being showed to our rooms. Olivia and I again shared a room. We had a little bit of downtime before we were supposed to go back to the main deck for lunch. Lunch was quite extravagant and there were many courses. I sat at the "dietary restrictions" table as I didn't want to eat much seafood. I sat with Hass and Erin-Hass doesn't eat pork; Olivia-no shellfish and Claudine-no seafood. It was all very delicious though. After lunch we had some time to sit out on the deck upstairs. It wasn't cold, but it wasn't warm either. Maybe an hour later it was time for our cave adventure. Halong Bay was very similar to the rock formations I saw around Phuket. Anyway, we walked through a cave and climbed to the top for a view. It was very beautiful. I slipped on a rock and scraped my foot, but was able to get patched up back on the boat.
Shortly after our cave exploration, it was time to go kayaking. They told us not to bring cameras, but I wish I had. Anyway, we did our own kayaking, not like when I was in Phuket, so it was quite an arm workout. We went to a lagoon and saw some monkeys and paddled around for quite some time. After the kayaking, we had time to get cleaned up before dinner.
Again dinner was quite nice with many courses. The coolest one was a dish with a candle inside an onion and it was glowing! They also turned off the lights before they brought it out for a very dramatic entrance! After dinner, we all went out and sat around the deck talking and getting to know each other. It was a lot of fun and I think the group bonded. The people in our group are: Dan and Adam-friends from Perth, Australia; Hass and Erin-a young (19 &20) newly dating couple from Melbourne; Claudine, Olivia, Brett-all individuals from around Australia; Kate and Ryan-a couple from Canada; Jenn-an individual from Canada, Joanne-a Korean American and Anastasia-an individual from Ukraine but living in Maldives. The three that didn't come with were Talia and Kathrine-friends from Australia and Leigh-an individual from Australia.
Anyway, like I said we had a great time out on the deck playing games and trying to fish for squid! No luck but we did see a few swimming around.
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