Our guide company escorted us and 10 others (including 2 new Frenchy friends we met sharing a cab) to Halong Bay City, Vietnam, where we boarded a small tug-like boat which lifted us to our cruise ship... a 100' 8-cabin boat, with all the luxury of a dingy offshore Vietnamese cruise-liner (+air conditioning).
We spent 2 nights and 3 days traveling around Halung Bay's huge, yet shallow, area. The bay was dotted with more islands - shooting almost straight out of the water - than one can count. The police reprimanded the crew for letting us jump off the top deck into the water. We kayaked both days around different caves and coves, fished for squid (unsuccessfully), Kareoked, climbed and spalunked our way through caves (and Asian tourists), visited a pearl farm, and made some Vietnamese cuisine (fried egg rolls).
After our very laid-back cruise, we returned to Hanoi, back to the Rising Dragon Hotel, washed up, and caught a [long and smelly] sleeper bus to Hoi An.