Got into Hanoi at like 6AM and headed straight to Hanoi Backpackers which I heard about from lots of travelers I've met along the way. They had dorm rooms so it was the best place for me since I'm back on the solo trek. Got in and they said it would be 2-3 hours before the beds were ready and I was a little tired. Called the bus company to organize the day trip to Ninh Binh I wanted to do...sold out! Really messed up the plans since I only had 4 days in Hanoi so I signed up for a 3 day tour through the hostel to Halong Bay. A little more expensive than the rest of the agencies but they advertised it as a 'booze cruise' and I knew it would be with a young, vibrant group...it turned out to be exactly that and more!
Took a quick shower and jumped on the bus with the group at about 8AM. In total it was about 25 people the first day from Canada, Ireland, England, Sweden, Holland and who knows where else all around my age. After a tough 3 hour drive to the Halong Bay we boarded our boat. Halong Bay is a really cool harbor and sailing around on the boat was really fun...lots of limestone cliffs and cool green water and it looks just like the postcard pics I've seen. We had an great lunch on the boat and then we had then did a few hours of kayaking around some of the bay. After kayaking we had a chance to do some swimming jumping off the top deck...real fun! Dinner on the boat around 7pm and then we all hung out on the top deck drinking Vietnamese vodka that we smuggled onboard since the beers were expensive....long night and stayed up till about 3:30 so the next day was going to be rough for sure. We got to stay on the boat which was a plus since some of the other tours didn't offer that. The group was really good, one of the best yet and made some new friends for sure...and the food was amazing!!! Truly ate like kings the whole time....
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