The adventure continues...

So when we left off, we were leaving for Ha Long Bay!

Our tour guide for Ha long Bay came to pick us up at about 8:00AM on the morning of the 6th. Before getting on the bus, I (Elizabeth) got to try street food for the first time since being here. A little old lady was on the corner frying eggs in a skillet and warming up baguettes in a small oven type device. For 10,000 Dong (about 60 cents) it was very delightful :)

The bus ride there was about 3.5 hours long and we had a lively bunch to ride with.. 4 English people all about 22 yrs. old, an older Chinese man and 3 other 22 yr olds from Ireland.

Once we got there, we boarded our ship and were on our way! It was pretty cloudy and kind of cold, but we still hung out on the top deck. We ate lunch and then got off the boat to explore this huge cave, in which the tour guide pointed out several "animals" within the rock formations throughout the cave. Kind of comical b/c we really could not see them at all :)

After the cave, we went kayaking throughout the bay, no restrictions, they just put us in a kayak and sent us off for an hour!

Dinner was next and then the drinking began with an older British couple (Rodney and Jan) buying two bottles of wine for the table. After dinner we returned to the top deck and payed them back with some vodka and Orange Fanta drinks that we had purchased on the way there :)

The next morning, we woke up and Matt and I got off the boat at Cat Ba Island. We went on quite a tour through the National Park, which entailed us hiking up this crazy path of rocks and trees to a tower that overlooked the entire island (Matt estimates it was only 1000 meters up, but based on the workout I got, I am going to say it was much higher!).

After the hike, we had lunch and then went to Monkey Island, which you guessed it... had monkeys!! Matt brought a banana with him to feed them, but everyone warned us not to. So we walked a little ways away to eat it ourselves when those monkeys smelled or saw us eating it, they came running after it! So Matt threw it on the ground and all of the people around us were getting a kick out of watching us run away so the monkeys didn't get us!

After about an hour on the island, we returned to Cat Ba and had dinner and then went to sleep.. jet lag was still kicking our butts!

The next morning we returned to the boat we originally came to Ha Long Bay on and took it back to Hanoi. After lunch, we were back on the bus for another 3.5 hours.

I think Matt and I both agree that last night (3/8) was one of the most fun nights we have had so far!

Upon returning from our Ha Long Bay trip and back to our hotel, we went roaming around Hanoi some more. We found a travel agent to book our flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Cambodia and then went across the street to a group of people sitting on the street corner and drinking 3,000 dong (20 cents) beers from a keg that this old lady was serving from.

Watching all the motor bikes and cars driving insanely through the 4-way intersection, this Australian guy named Sterling came up next to us and had a seat. We started drinking with him and then he saw a younger couple, about our age, that he knew from the Hanoi airport when he arrived the day before.

So the five of us are now sitting on the corner, still drinking this cheap beer. Matt decides to open a tab with the old lady pouring from the keg... Haha :) Sterling gave in to this lady taunting him to buy dried squid and I bought some pictures of Ha Long Bay from this little boy... who later tried to kiss me on the cheek... a couple times!

The younger couple had made reservations at this really good restaurant they had heard about and invited us to come along. The five of us decided to go to the restaurant via motor bike taxis! We had the best time riding through all of the crazy traffic!! (Videos to prove the ride). After dinner, we went to a bar called Half Man Half Noodle and drank some more!

After all of this excitement, it was time to retire... what a crazy night!

This morning we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City where it is 80 degrees and sunny! More to come....