Take only pictures

My memories of Halong Bay will be forever topped off with the late night giggles that we shared off the sloping front-end of the boat on our overnight in the UNESCO site.   The sky was cloudy and the night was cool but not cold.  Some of us had beers in hand, some were jigging for squid, some of us had our feet dangling over the edge and some were just standing around for the company.

Everyone was from somewhere different from the rest; Germany, Sweden, Canada, Malaysia, Argentina, Australia.  We all shared English--broken as it was in some cases--and passed the time sharing stories of where we'd come from or where'd we'd been.  Laughter erupted amongst the crowd when our day was recounted and our guide's accent and favourite phrases were poorly imitated.

As the night stretched on, the crowd dwindled with people heading to bed, wishing the night owls goodnights.  The last few of us followed shortly after, fittingly closing the evening with a few favourite lines from FRIENDS.  Retiring for the night, we left the karst isle wonders to stand guard over the twinkling historic junks drifting quietly in the bay.