Halong Bay

We are back from Halong Bay, one of the most gorgeous places I've been to. I'm glad that Lucas and I opted for the overnight on the boat instead of the day tour. It took us 4 hours to get out there in the first place. The wharf was ridiculous. There were "junk" boats everywhere. Junks are the awesome wooden boats that seem stereotypically Vietnamese. There were so many tourists milling about waiting to get on one of the boats.

The tour that we went on had 12 people, and we all got along great. Many Americans and Aussies. Lucas and I were the only Canadians on board. We got on in time to have Lunch - which was a seafood lunch. Hurray.... At least there was lots of rice, and one other meat dish. And spring rolls, man I love those things.

We start our tour, have some lunch, and then make our way into the karst limestone. They reminded me a little of Flowerpot Island, only more beautiful. There is over 3000 of these islands. All of us had our cameras poised for the entire trip. We made our way to the Cave of Surprises. This is a huge cave that was made a Heritage site by UNESCO (all of the islands are also another UNESCO site). It was amazing! It was also rad to see graffitti on the wall from 1904, and sometimes even earlier! We also went to this pagoda on top of one of the islands, which was 400 something stairs up. Then I went on my first kayaking experience. It was great! We kayaked under this small cave, and into a gorgeous grotto of some sort. You could feel the heat coming off of the water.

Also, because there are so many of these "junks" on the water with tourists, there is major competition between the captains to be the first to unload everyone at various places. So while we were at the pagoda, another boat was "parked" close by us. Then you hear the sound of glass breaking. Lucas and my cabin window had been smashed through. Superb! Just another adventure. We ended up transferring rooms, so we didn't have to deal with that. Apparently though, the crew members had to pay for that out of their own pockets.

This morning we were supposed to go for a swim, and as I was turning around on the ladder to get down into the water, I hurt myself - bad. My knee. As I was turning around, I just heard - and felt - a series of pops. I couldn't move my leg for a moment, and I was scared. I can move it now, but everytime I go down stairs, it's popping, and it aches. I'm scared, and I think I've regressed. I'm glad I'm going to the doctor when I get home. This is putting a damper on things right now.

We found a hotel for the night, and wouldn't you know it, it's on the very top floor, the 5th/6th, and there's no elevator. Fantastic. Tomorrow we're going to see the Temple of Literature before heading to the airport to catch a flight to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon). We're probably going to have to buy a ticket to Siem Reap in Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. We don't have enough time to bus from Saigon to Phnom Penh, and everything. And I have to see Angkor. It's a little bit expensive to fly there, but I think we're just going to have to suck it up and do it.