March 25, 2023

We’ve come to realize we have lost all concept of dates and time while traveling. Today we got up early on freedom island and packed up our things. We head back to Hanoi today as our little Ha Long adventure is over. We got up, had some breakfast, and then all boarded a small boat that would take us over to Cat Ba. This was the smallest boat we’d been on yet but we cruised for about 30 minutes until we got to the port. Here, we waited for a bus to come get us.

The Uruguayan boys all decided to play a game of soccer and split their group of 12 into 2 teams and started kicking the ball around in the most serious manner. It gathered quite the crowd of locals and tourists as we watched the boys be boys a mess around. Eventually, a small bus came to pick our group up and we started a 1 hour ride to another ferry. We weaved through the smalls streets and tried not to crash into each other as we were packed like sardines. Eventually, we arrived to another ferry port where we took a 5 minute boat to our last bus. Pham, our group leader said there was some kind of mistake and we managed to get put on an even smaller bus for the 2 hour drive back to Hanoi. I have never been so crammed and definitely made one of the Uruguayan boys annoyed because I refused to let him recline his seat and would put my legs up to stop him whenever he tried. We stopped about half way through to use the restroom and Nico, one of the boys shared his pizza with us quickly becoming our favorite of the group. We eventually got back to Hanoi, checked into our hostel, said our goodbyes and called it a night.

Ellie and I ran to get some Pho and do some chores to get everything in order for our last couple days together. Tomorrow, we’ll do a cooking class and explore Hanoi before I prepare to leave for Hai Giang on Monday night. My journals may get back logged again then as well because I’ll be living out of a smaller backpack for 4 days as i ride a motor bike through the mountains of Northern Vietnam.