We left the crazyness of Hanoi behind and headed for the tranquil waters of World Heritage Halong Bay - an archipelago of over 3000 islands. The islands are made of limestone and rise out of the water incredably spectacularly, as is usual with limestone there are also hundreds of caves dotted about, back in the day it would have been great for pirates or smugglers! Ha long means 'where the dragon is under the sea,' legend has it that the islands of Halong Bay that a dragon ran through the area its tail gouging out valleys (now under water) and the mounds became the mountains, this was meant to make the coast safe from invaders who would get lost or shipwrecked on the rugged islands.

We took a 3 day 2 night tour, our junk (boat) was pretty luxury. All meals were included but no drinks - beer seemed expensive at 60p a can, a large markup compared to normal! Our group was mainly older travellers there were French, Koreans, Vietnamese and a Vietnamese man who has lived in Europe and the USA for years! We made good friends with him, Son, and his wife, Sam - it was nice to get a local insight into a country we wouldn't necessarily get the chance to in such detail otherwise. Our guides were incredibly friendly and very knowledgeable about the area which was good too.

A quick look at some floating villages where local people that never go to the mainland live, they keep loads of fish in big netted areas in the sea! After seeing a fish being whacked on the head with a big metal bar it was time for our first meal! It was loads of seafood and traditional Vietnamese food - some really beautiful squid and octopus!We sat around a table with our new friends and ate in the local manner - quite a few dishes are put in the centre of the table and its every man for himself, Sarah is getting good at using chopsticks now and even managed to get stuck into the peanuts with them! The food for the rest of the tour continued in the same vein, extremely fresh and tasty!

After lunch on the first day we passed the Insense Island, so named because a local man climbs it to burn incense at the top once a week - since it is vertical I wouldn't fancy it too much especially without ropes! We also passed islands that are funny shapes; fighting c*** , kissing c*** , cottages and fish to name a few. The scenery was stunning and it didn't seem long before we had stopped to go and see a cave.

It was a huge cave, again our guide showed us loads of things that apparently resembled things, some took loads of imagination apart from one, it was highlighted in red light (and our guide didn't point it out!) but when later quizzed he said it was holy to some religious people in India (I forget the name) but my guess is that it must be a god of fertility!! (When you see the photo's you won't miss it!) The main cavern of the cave was huge, much bigger than most of the caves we have been in this year, with some really interesting formations, some formed by the sea that made the roof look like rippled water. On exiting the cave we were greeted by a fantastic view of a few junks sat in the natural harbour below framed by the steep cliffs rising dramatically out of the water on what semed like all sides.

It was then back to the boat to read books on the deck before we had dinner and then bed on the boat. The next day we headed to Cat Ba Island, the biggest island in Halong Bay, it has a national park there too. We climbed up the hills and into the mist - it had rained overnight so the path was really muddy and slippy. After a few bits of scrambling up rocks we got to the top and the clag had lifted a little bit so the views were pretty good. At the top was a big metal viewing platform maybe 100ft high, it was really rusty, when you climbed to the top the wooden floor was rotten in places - it was pretty scary. The path down was pretty slippy because of the mud but we managed to get down without slipping or getting too muddy.

In the afternoon we went to Monkey Island, Sarah was lazy and got the boat while I kayaked, it was further than I thought and by the time I got there my shoulders were aching! We looked at the monkeys for a while until I got too close and a couple chased me, you cant run away or they will attack, I tried to make myself look big and edged away cautiously but as fast as I could - check out how evil they look, I bet they have a nasty bite too! Sarah found this pretty funny!!

Our last day we headed back through the islands to Halong City and had one last meal with our new friends, then our bus took us back to the madness of Hanoi. Tomorrow we will get up early to make sure we get to the mausoleum before it closes, then hopefully we will manage to get Glasto tickets (fingers crossed that either us or Toby and Anna will manage it) then we head down to Hoi An on a 20 hour bus in search of some tailor made clothes. The bus is incredibly cheap - it is costing us 29 USD to get from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, including all the stops we want, the train would be more fun and less touristy but for the price difference and ease of travel we have decided to do the tourist thing!

Keep your fingers crossed for us and enjoy the Grand National.

Loads of love, Andrew and Sarah xxx