Halong Bay was hidden this morning by the dark "mist" of industrial Vietnam. The morning greeted us with a water surface that was completely still but without a single ray of sunshine. Although I was on the top deck of "Violet", enjoying the unfurling of the giant junk sails, it was impossible to get even a hint of where the sun was rising. Hope the Captain is not navigating by celestial queues because none were visible.I was the only passenger on deck this morni...

The mission this morning was to be packed and out of the room by 6.30 am so that breakfast could be finalised, luggage collected and the checkout process completed and we could be loaded into the minibus and on the road by 7.30 am. The Esmeralda is such a large complex we had to allow a good 10 minutes to get from building to building and then factor in all the other groups leaving at the same time. It required strategic planning to ensure that we had all the tab...