After a 3 hour drive through what looked a lot like the Phillipines, we finally got to Halong Bay. The last part of a week-long adventure.

We were tired, hungry and cold (Did I mention that it was about 50°F). That said, we finally got onto our Junk Boat, aptly named "Paradise". Our boat mates were an old group of German tourists and a giant Chinese family… there were about 14 of them. There was also a young Australian couple who didn't mingle much so I'm pretty sure they were up to no good. They weren't. This part of the trip consisted of food, hiking into caves and up steep rocks thatthe locals called islands. We were flanked by tourists and locals and tourists that looked like locals. All in all, it was what you would expect from an excursion like this, which is to say it was kind of awesome.

Halong Bay was beautiful. Even with the barrage of other boats and tourists, the view on the water was a spectacle. In the morning, we ate breakfast with our German and Chinese shipmates. Made some goofy Titanic jokes and then headed back for the dock and ultimately, reality.