Today we went to Ha Long Bay, a three hour hair-raising drive from Hanoi.

We arrived at the docks where there were hundreds of big brown tourist boats waiting to take the hundreds of people queuing off the various tour buses.

As we headed out into the bay our boat had to jostle through the hundreds of others all heading the same way. We eventually broke free from the heard and headed for a few of 3000 mini islands which dotted the bay.

We were served a sea-food lunch, which wasn't great but ok. And then we went to a large cave where most of the tourists seemed to have headed to.

In the afternoon we just sailed around the picturesque and almost alien landscape of the tall monoliths. The sun was beating down and it was so nice to just sit up on the deck and soak up the sun and watch the islands drift by. After a while the boat docked at a small floating village which had some wooden huts with fish-farms attached. Here we hired some kayaks and paddled around and through some of the mini-mountains rising from the sea. The water was so calm and very blue and it was nice to get to places the big boats couldn't go.

After that we got back on the boat and headed back towards Ha Long Bay whilst watching the sun gently set across the water.

It was such a peaceful afternoon and the views were just stunning and I would've loved to have spent more time there.

That evening we went for a walk through the night market and then tried several different restaurants before deciding we all wanted pizza! I think it was the biggest crowd the restaurant had seen in many a year and it took a very long time before we all got our food, but it was very good when it arrived.

After that we ended up in a rather awful and loud club, but it was fun, and we were certainly an entertainment to the locals!

And that was the end of our day in Ha Long Bay. I'll definitely stay longer next time...