As we pulled away from Catpa we sat upstairs. The fresh air was nice but it was really cold and we brought up the blankets and pillows below for the hard benches. We were brought tea, but when the boat hit some waves I realized that it was a mistake to drink it because I felt really seasick. I am so glad we had the seasickness bands. Instant relief! 
It was only the three of us on the boat but we travelled in a sort of fleet with a couple of other boats, meeting up when it was time to eat and when we had a chance to walk around or kayak. the first of these stops was for lunch, where we pulled into a a sheltered bay out of the wind and kayaked for about 40 minutes before coming back and eating. There must have ben beautiful coral at some point but most of it is dead and colorless from fishing or pollution. We kayaked through a tunnel to another bay and kayaked between the rocks, fighting the current at times. 
Lunch was satisfyingly protein rich. There was tofu, springrolls, veggies, rice, and a bowl of salted things that looked like peanuts and tasted like a cross between beans and peanuts. After lunch we set back out and cruised between the rocks. Han La, Ha Long, and Bai Tu Long bay were among our stops over the two days.
The name Ha Long means 'descending dragon'. According to local legend, when the Vietnamese had just started to develop into a country they had to fight against invaders. The gods sent a family of dragons to protect the Vietnamese. The dragons began spitting out jewels and jade, which turned into isles and islets dotting the bay, linking together to form a great wall against the invaderes. By magic numerous rock mountains appeared on the sea ahead of the invader's ships and the first ships ran into the rocks and eachother. After winning the battle the dragons made a home in the bay. The place where the mother dragon descended was named Ha Long, the place where the dragon's children attended their mother was called Bai Tu Long island, and the place where the dragon's children wriggled their tails violently was called Back Long Vy island.
We stopped for the night not far from where we set out from. While dinner was being made my dad and I kayaked around for a little while, going through another tunnel in the rocks. Once through two dogs on a float began barking and across the water a man was alerted and started whistling and waving his arms. We had no idea what we were supposed to do so continued until a national park patrol boat came out and told us that we were kayaking on a part of the reserve. By then we had already turned around, but I don't see how it could be a reserve if there were people fishing there. 
On the boat anchored next to us there was a German man who came over to visit after dinner. He is a teacher, and didn't understand how I could be allowed to homeschool for a year.
Before going to bed we played a game of hearts but didn't stay up late because we are all a bit under the weather. Below are cave pictures but they belong a paragraph below and don't want to stay there.
The light came in and woke us up early on our second day but we didn't actually leave for a couple of hours. For the third time we drove past a group of rocks that look kind of like a ship from a distance but went to a different part of the bay. Along with another ship filled with people we stopped at a cave and got out to explore. Because of the language barrier they couldn't tell us how big the cave is or how long people would be exploring it so my mom waited outside with me. After everyone had been gone a while we decided to follow through a small hole in the wall and luckily the way was pretty obvious. There were some beautiful quartz stalactites but between my fear of small spaces and my mother's fear of spiders we left pretty quickly.
Our last stop before returning to Catpa was at a beach past a fishing village. There were a ton of beautiful shells and we beachcombed for a while before our driver motioned for us to leave.
After crashing at the hotel for a couple of hours we walked to the market but left after finding that it contained nothing but fish and seafood. Instead we walked to a restaurant up a hill where they were out of most items on the menu. We enjoyed some warm soup but it was an outdoor restaurant and we had colds and were glad to make it back to the hotel. For dinner we mustered our energy one last time to go to our favorite Catpa restaurant. Again we had to sit outside but the pho was delicious and spicy and worth it.
At 9 the next morning we got on a bus to go to the ferry terminal. It was bumpy and I got a little carsick but we were there soon enough and the trip to Hai Phong was painless. After being told 'Ninh Binh sit!' several times by the bus driver at various stops we made it to the bus station. There was some time before the bus left and we used it to get snacks.
When we left we were able to take up an extra seat for backpacks and instruments, but two and a half hours later every seat was taken and people were standing in the aisles.
In South America there is an obvious point where a city/town ends and begins, but here it was developed all the way. The signs for Ninh Binh pointed to a place not much different from the miles before it.
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