A bit more detail..

My tour of Halong bay was really fun and there was some great stuff to see. Bright and early on monday morning, everyone was rallied outside the Hanoi Backpackers Hostel and then ushered onto a bus to start the 3 hour journey to halong city harbour. The bus ride was boring/exhillirating at different times during the ride. You must understand that the traffic in Vietnam is a force to be reckoned with, a crazy mess of fast cars, fast motorbikes, slow cyclos and pedestrians of all different speeds. On our trip along the highway to Halong city, a few really really near misses with large trucks, cars and other buses is normal every half hour. Eventually after a thrill seeking adventure ride we made it to halong city and jumped onto a boat which then took us out to our boat for the evening, the Jolly Roger. It was a grand Junk, full of dark wood panelling and hard seats, with a sundeck on top and a bar/dining room on the middle level. After an eye opening 1 and a half hour trip to a semi secluded bay amoungst the huge number of islands somewhere, we dropped anchor and jumping and swimming off the side of the boat, then paired up and went on an hour long kayak tour of some surrounding islands and visited a fishing village filled with people who have never stepped onto dry land their entire lives. These particular people beleive they will be cursed if they go onto dry land, so instead spend their life on the sea in Halong Bay. After that we visited a cave which was the dictionary definition of a cave; dark and made of rock; and a bit of bat poo. Then it was a mad race back to the Roger for a dry off and then dinner. Next day we took off to a small island, named 'Castaway' where we spent the day playing beach volleyball, badminton, and lazing around talking, taking in the peace, quiet and tranquility of Halong bay. Well until the afternoon that is, when the peace was broken by a an outboard motor towing people around on a choice of wakeboard, banana boat and inflatable donut. I chose the donut and had loads of fun. That night we were treated to a Vietnamese barbecue dinner with fish, squid, chicken, beef and tofu. With the ever present noodles, rice and french fries of course. There were heaps of great people on the tour, all around me age, and everyone had huge amounts of fun. Also would you beleive there were 3 of us on the tour with the same first names. There was a Matthew James from Canada, the UK and then me. Very easy for everyone to remember our names. Next day we had breakfast and then started the journey back through the bay and then the bus back to Hanoi. The weather packed up a bit on the way back, we were lucky to have warm and then sunny conditions on the Island. Its pretty cold here in Hanoi at the moment, and every traveller is grumbling and using all the small supply warm clothes we brought with us.
Yesterday a group of us (some from the boat tour, others from the hostel) went to the mauseleum (spelt wrong I think) to see Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body and have a look around the complex at the palace, The 'House on Stilts' where uncle ho lived. You only get about a 30 second look at Ho Chi Minh, seriuous looking guards holding rifles with bayonets fixed remind you not to smile, move your hands from your sides or make any noise while you walk in a circle around the glass case and then out the door. The guards outside were a bit more friendly, and you can see below one was even happy to give us a great photo oppotunity.
After a strong Vietnamese coffee and some lunch half of us headed to the history museum to check out some artifacts and pieces of Vietnamese history dating back to 938 BP. No photos from there because it costs 40,000 dong (about 2 dollars) for every 3 photos you take. So I have had a very action packed week, and fly out to Vientiane in Laos this afternoon.