Day 25 – Amelia

We woke up early to have breakfast at 7 to be ready for our full day ahead of us. We left the boat at 7:30 to visit the Sung Sot cave.

After visiting the cave we went kayaking. Alfie and I were pretty certain our kayak was broken as it would not steer. It took a lot of hard work to get back to the boat. By the end our arms were absolutely knackered.

After and hour of kayaking, everyone crashed on the top deck. Alfie could not wait to sizzle in the sun and get a tan.

The boat than stopped about 100 m away from small beach, meaning it was time to finally jump of the boat. After many jumps we all swam to the beach to attempt a pyramid again.

After a few unsuccessful attempts we were summoned back to the boat for lunch; some of us swam back doing a breaststroke race (which Critch won) and the others saw a poisonous snake rippling along the surface of the water.

The boat than dropped us of at monkey island. Jess, Emilia and I went on a spontaneous adventure up a mountain, barefoot in the mid heat (affirming our reputation as the “naughty ones”) not sure it was the best idea. Although it was challenging, we conquered the climb, scrambling up the rocks and watching where we had to place our feet. On our journey we came across a bay that was covered in rubbish and amongst it was a floating t-shirt ( or a body). Our feet were burning on the scorching rocks. We could have probably fried an egg on it. We were nearly at the top when we could see the rest of our team trying to do the pyramid again. We managed to catch their attention but I don’t think they were aware we had gone despite telling Critch

The rest of the group sensibly stayed by the beach and were rewarded with some very close encounters with the local mercat monkeys.

It was time to leave monkey island and head to Cat Ba island where we were staying next. The hostel was amazing. Some people had balconies, sofas or both. We had about 3 hours to spare before dinner. This was the time to relax, walk around the island and sleep. Sleeping was the most popular option.

In the evening we went on a walk to search for rolling ice cream. Of course we bargained with them to get it cheaper. It wasn’t happening until we all moved away and they finally said okay okay.

All of a sudden, we heard screaming and saw all the locals running for their lives. So guess what we did, scream and ran for our lives. It was all because it had started to rain and a storm was coming. I don’t think we would have been as scared if the locals hadn’t been either.