Halong Bay is absolutely stunning. The same Karst peaks that characterise Yangshuo in China, but set in the sea rather than amongst rice paddies. And even the fleet (literally, in terms of numbers) of tourist-filled boats don't spoil it, as the seascape is so incredible, and the boats are all attractive, wooden "Junk" boats that fit the backdrop perfectly anyway.

We went on a three day / two night tour (which is how you have to do it, unfortunately; we generally try to avoid organised tours), spending the first night on a boat, and the second on Cat Ba Island, the largest, and one of the few inhabited islands in the bay. As well as lounging on the top deck in the sunshine, taking in the scenery as the boat drifted chugged between the islands (about 3,000 of them in total, I think), we did a bit kayaking, some hiking on Cat Ba, explored a cave, and had a look around the floating villages.

Which are fantastic, with floating houses (most complete with pet dog, despite being in the middle of the sea), bars, shops, and even a small school that the kids have to kayak to each day, all on fixed, timber rafts. Why have a floating existence, with lots of perfectly good land available, I couldn't tell you, but we were impressed nonetheless! We saw these on the way to Monkey Island, an optional part of the tour that most of the group declined in favour of one of Cat Ba's beaches, but I had to go in pilgrimage to the namesake of one of my favourite ever computer games, completed sometime around 1990 on my Commodore Amiga! Brilliant game, thinking about it again, and suddenly I have the urge to play it again... It was only on the way to Monkey Island that we read in the Lonely Planet about the troop of aggresive monkeys there, notorious for biting travellers, hence making it a place to avoid. But despite being toyed with by one such beast (the only one we saw, in fact), who decided to sit on a branch overhanging a path which was our only route back to the pick-up point, we survived potential injury and subsequent rabies jabs. He also made a dash for Paula, generating a momentary panic, which I'm sure she laughs about now!

So that was Halong Bay, really. Lots of nice people on our tour, predominantly couples, including Wade and Lyndsey from Australia / Canada, Jesper and Katarina, pharmacists from Denmark (as if I didn't know enough in England already!), and Ben and Emma from Crawley, most of whom we enjoyed a few beers with out in Cat Ba on the second night, on top of the other set activities. It all flew by in no time, and then off we went back to Hanoi!