I got up early today for a shower before quite an early breakfast. The buffet breakfast room was heaving with Germans, who were also vacating today. This resulted in a huge line for fresh omelettes, toast, coffee and anything else that was on offer. So I just had toast, after its third trip on that stupid circular toast rollercoaster thing, and coffee.


Paula, Suzanne and Lynette were already there but no sign of the others. We were only taking one night's clothing with us, plus any valuables, electricals, documents etc. For me this resulted in my carry on, my large rucksack and my small rucksack, not forgetting my camera. You know I never travel light! The bulk of our luggage was being stored by the hotel until our return.

There was a four hour journey ahead of us in our bus. This bus was fitted with seats that were designed for diminutive little Orientals and the seat belt anchor point between the seats stuck into the Occidental arse and meant we all had to sit slightly sideways. OK for a short trip, but 4 hours, ouch!

It took us a while to get out of Hanoi as everyone was still on their way to work. I truly have never seen so many mopeds, some with children maybe as young as 4 or 5 sat on the back, not holding on, maybe playing with a toy car! The parents are all wearing totally useless helmets but none for the children. One lady even had a special helmet with a hole in the back for her pony tail!

We finally had a wee stop at a pottery. The kaolin is mined locally and there must have been about 40 kilns, all wood fired. Some of the pots were enormous, like the huge ones you see in peoples gardens with a tree in them. They were all hand decorated and very nicely done. We went inside their shop area and gingerly picked up a few very delicate tea cups and ornaments, desperate not to break anything.

One of the assistants came over and told us the prices of things but we didn't think they would survive the manic luggage handlers at the airport. Nonsense, says she, picking up two bowls and bashing them together, They are very strong! Nevertheless, we declined.

We finally reached Halong Bay. It was so much more commercialised than I had expected with hotels all along the harbour, loads of shops and hundreds, if not thousands of tourists. The bay was full of passenger boats, some just for short and day trips, others, like ours with accommodation.

But first it was Buy A Silly Hat Day. Most of the ladies bought these typical conical bamboo hats with a ribbon tie under the chin. I refrained, as I don't do hats and I try not to look a complete tit in public!.

Nam managed to rustle up the boat's tender and we chugged off to our boat. Ooh, very nice. My cabin was on the middle deck, at the stern, there were two other cabins on that deck, the rest were all on the lower deck. As there were only 8 of us, we all got our own cabin, all of which were en suite with a marble shower and proper flushing toilet, no pumping required. They also had air conditioning with a king size bed.

No time to waste as lunch was ready. This consisted of 9 courses! The food just kept on coming, they even catered for the non piscatorial palate for two of us. The quality and presentation was amazing, considering the small galley on board. We up-anchored part of the way through lunch and started to make our way past the huge limestone outcrops.

The only thing that spoiled it a little, was the sheer number of boats doing precisely the same thing. It turned into a flotilla, with everyone heading towards the same bay for kayaking. Now, I don't do kayaking, as my whole family knows, so whilst the others and Nam headed off in the tender to try and drown themselves, I sauntered up to the top deck, to enjoy the sunbeds, clutching my Mojito with a wiggly straw and a good book. Now tell me, truthfully, was this not a better way to spend an afternoon?

The Vietnemese government insist that all the overnighting boats must stay together in a bay with mobile phone access. There were just over 30 boats anchored in the bay.

The kayakers all came back happy, just as the sun was starting to go down, nobody fell in but they manged to soak each other with their paddles.

And so it was camera time, the sunset over Halong Bay. It was stunning, especially when seen through the eyes of my trusty Lumix on Sunset setting. However when I downloaded my pictures I discovered that there had been a touch of operator error, well, OK, a c*** up by yours truly. During our visit to the temple, pagoda and prison, I had managed to have my camera set on some kind of Starburst setting. All the photos from that part of the trip have been covered in crisscross lines. I won't be doing that again in a hurry! The more skilled camera enthusiasts seem to think that I may be able to remove the crisscross lines with Photoshop, whatever that is!

Dinner was another multi-course meal, again excellent in every way. We all agreed to get up early and hope for a good sunrise, which was due just after 6am.

With that, we all turned in. One teeny tiny problem for me, was that the generator which ran the AC at night, was right outside my cabin. Blimey what a din! Luckily I discovered a pair of BA earplugs and I slept really well, after all.