June 27-June 29, 2015

It was my birthday. I knew I was having it on the boat around the rocks in Ha Long Bay. I was a little bummed because we didn't have really nice accommodation. I'm not trying to sound cocky, but when it's your birthday you want it to be special. And I felt like it wasn't even my birthday. I spent most of the time "upset" if you will. But it got better and I realized it doesn't matter that much. I taught myself to detach myself from those feelings. This also helped with my concern about getting into taxis and getting ripped off and stuff.

Anyway, Ha Long Bay was very beautiful, and we had a huge celebration for my birthday.

While we were on the boat, we went to various places and stopped to kayak, swim, and look at caves. We also took the kayaks through the caves full of jellyfish and bats.

The highlight for me was the swimming after kayaking. We jumped off the boat and did all sorts of things. We also went to a pearl farm and a fishing village. I liked the pearl farm better. In the fishing village it's mostly water and the houses were floating. We had a boat take us around. At the farm we got off the boat and looked at how they produced pearls which was pretty nasty. We also saw the outcome - the necklaces. They weren't very expensive for what they were.

The day we left Ha Long Bay was an odd day. It felt weird like I was sad to go. I sweat like I never had before waiting for the bus to pick us up. When we got back to Hanoi, I was really happy to be with AC again.

For more, check out our video on Ha long Bay https://youtu.be/rV3E_fB_yYM