Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

We spent a wonderful 4 days and 3 nights on a "junk" boat in Ha Long Bay. After and exciting 3.5 hour drive (I swear there are no traffic laws on most roads and the white lines are more of a suggestion than a rule) from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay City we got on our boat. It was more than any of us were expecting. There were 4 "state rooms" each with their own bathroom, a sun bathing deck (it was used well) a dining area and then a place to store the 4 double kayaks we took with us. There were 5 guests on the boat - our crazy group of 3 and 2 others (George and Markan from Rhode Island) and 6-7 staff to cater to almost every one of our whims - it was kind of weird and kind of nice at the same time. The harbor was pure chaos with "junk" boats and tourists everywhere, but our capitan was excellent and guided our boat without any mishaps.
Side note about the driving in Vietnam. There are motorbikes everywhere (there are 4 million people in Hanoi and 2 million motorbikes). They carry everything from a family of 4 (yes 4 people on the same motorbike) to live pigs (we saw a motorbike with 3 live pigs sleeping on their backs on the back of it going down the highway). It is like constantly playing chicken with other cars, motorbikes, trucks, bicycles, horse drawn carts and pedestrians. Needless to say it is a little nuts. We only had one time where we almost went into the ditch to avoid an oncoming bus that could not merge back into their lane and our driver was incredibly skilled so we were good.
On the way to the Bay we stopped at a pineapple stand where they have mini pineapples (at least by Hawaii's standards) and they skin them for you and leave you with a wonderful pineapple lollipop of sorts. The best part was you could get these great treats for 10,000 dong (about 60 cents). We got them on the way back as well because who can resist fresh shaved pineapple?
Ok, back to the bay. We did everything on the boat including showering, eating, sleeping, hanging out and having some very interesting chats with our guides - Binh, Thach (tyke), and Cuong. The only thing we did not do was kayak and swim. The water was like a warm bath in most places and when it was a little colder than that it was still worth a swim because of the hot days.
The kayaking was amazing and we did between 1 and 4 hours a day (depending on how much travel time we had to do that day) and we explored caves (both ones that you had to use a headlamp in and others where you could see all the way through). It was amazing to go into some of the caves while still on the water. On the other side of some of them was a lagoon where we saw many different species of flowers, trees, fish and birds. We saw eagles, hawks, bats (kind of creepy but pretty cool), tons of fish, coral, sea anenomies, orchids, butterfly trees, ginger flowers, palm trees and so much more. One day we even saw a family of monkeys.
The best part was that we would get done kayaking and then come back to the boat and jump in the water for a swim. And when I say jump, I mean jump. We would jump off the second story of the boat (about 15-20 feet off the water) and then just swim and float around in the water. We even had a later night swim and were in the water as the sun went down - all I can say is amazing!
The food on the boat heeds mentioning. We all thought that we were going to have little meals, but we ended up having huge meals with around 7-9 courses (different plates) for every lunch and dinner. The food was lots of seafood (squid, fish, shrimp, clams) pork, chicken and many vegetables. It was all quite good and I ate more fish than I ever have before (it is a good thing I like seafood). I don't think I have ever eaten that much fried food in my life, but it sure tasted good. Oh yeah, many different kinds of fruit for desert (pineapple, watermellon, dragonfruit - bright pink skin with white flesh and many little black seeds that you eat).
It was crazy to be out on the water each day and none of us wanted to leave on the last day (yesterday), but it was time to head out. I don't think I can describe the beauty of Ha Long Bay, but I will try to get pictures on when I can find a computer that has a USB port.
If you think the driving on the roads is bad you should see the port at Ha Long Bay. We almost got into many accidents coming back into the harbor, but we had a very skilled capitan. Others, however, were not so lucky and we got to see one "junk" boat rear end another with a loud crack. I don't think I can describe the mayhem so you will just have to go to Ha Long Bay and experience it for yourself (I highly recommend this).
After getting back to Hanoi we went to dinner at a nice restaurant. Even though we were hoping to finally have some pho (have not had any yet) we were happy to have the amazing 10 course meal that ensued. Yeah, I am not wanting for any food here. When dinner was over it was off to our over night sleeper train to Lao Cai and then a transfer to Sapa.

Side note - I can not figure out how to do captions yet so here are the pictures explained:

1. Katie and I chilling on the sun deck of our boat.

2. What a junk boat looks like (not our boat).

3 and 4. Pictures of Ha Long Bay.

5. The view from Drum Cave.

6. Kayaking through a cave.

7. Chilling on the beach after a hard couple of hours of kayaking.