Hanoi and Halong Bay (Castaway Tour)

Finally we arrived in Hanoi around 11pm after a 28 hour bus journey.

*If travelling around Asia has taught me one thing, it is that I need to appreciate the short distances that we travel place to place in the UK. So I have told myself that as soon as I get home I'm going to make a executive decision to visit more places. 

Anyway on the bus we had actual beds, slightly strange experience as if you are on the top bunk and the road is dodgy, you often feel as though you will fall out but then when you strap yourself in you feel like you are been sectioned! All rather weird.

Hanoi itself is pretty similar to Bangkok, a busy, smelly city! However there is something I quite like about city life. We stayed in Hanoi Backpackers (downtown) which I would 100% recommend for anyone travelling around Vietnam especially those travelling alone. There are so many backpackers from all over the world and the hostel offers things to do every night and tours to go on! 

During the day, we visited the Hoa Lo Prison. French colonialists built the prison in 1896. Lots of prisoners died there due to the food that was eaten for example popular rice was crushed and mixed with white rice from the south which was out of date with parasites. And at one point over 40 prisoners died in a month. Anyway it was all rather interesting. 

The first night, we went on an organised bar crawl but clubbing in Vietnam is totally different to the UK because you sweat obscene amounts. So unless you are positioned in a close proximity to a fan you end up looking rather disgusting. 

Whilst staying at the Backpackers we booked onto the 3 day, 2 night castaway tour. Which consisted of travelling aby bus to Halong Bay and then getting a small boat to a large (party) boat where we stayed for one night and had many drinks and jumped off the boat. 

After a relatively late night we headed back to sleep in our cabins. The next morning we were woken up at 7am, which is a struggle at the best of times. We had breakfast as the boat made its way to our own private island, Castaway Island. It rained during the journey but soon the rain cleared and we arrived at the Island.

Definitely one of the most amazing beaches I've ever visited and the water was bath water temperature. Which was at times rather frustrating when all you wanted to do was cool down. 

Whilst at the island, we played volleyball, kayaked through caves and to an area where there are normally many jellyfish (however the water was too warm, so they were hidden from near the surface), swam to a platoon, sunbathed, went high speed tubing and played cards. All in a day's work!! 

Our bedrooms were dorms of 12 and all that protected us from the outside was a roof.

And this was our view, I'm not sure you get much better than that.

In the evening, we played games and drank some more and then midnight was upon us and we all went swimming in the Bioluminescent waters, where when you made movements there were many tiny lights it was pretty amazing. Finally, it was time for bed and we all out like a light.  

Next morning we headed back to Hanoi and it poured with rain, so were really lucky with the weather. As soon as we arrived back we quickly ate then straight away had to get an overnight bus to Hue.