What is nice about Hanoi, and Vietnam in general, is that nobody tries to sell you anything. There are no touts at street corners, train stations or similar. You will get taxi drivers clamouring for your attention and your business, but that is life. You might get the odd beach vendor as well, but nobody else. And it is a pleasure.

You have to work a little harder to get what you want, but you know what you are getting. We decided that the best way to see Halong Bay and some of its 2866 islands was to go sea kayaking. But best of all, we would stay at this company's private beach camp located in the heart of the Park. Man, that sounded good. Yes you could share a replica Chinese junk and watch the island slide by. Or you could paddle amongst them and get up, close and personal.

To get to the beach, we needed to take a bus, a hydrofoil, another bus and then a small boat to the camp. The further away from the cities of Hanoi and Halong Bay we got and nearer the camp, the more remote it becomes.

All our camp was, was six or seven huts pushed against the towering limestone cliff above us a small toilet block and two utility areas where we ate and chilled. Once our small group had arrived and the kayaks were beached, our transport left and the bay was ours.

It would be a mistake to assume that Halong Bay is an area devoid of human life, except for the tourists who use the junks and other boats. It is actually packed with people who make their livings from the sea. Because the area is so sheltered, the water is always relatively calm. Here the currents are not languid and flow quickly between the islands and the tidal range is huge. What this means is that the seawater is fresh and full of nutrients, ideal for fishing and fish and oyster farms. With calm sea conditions and fertile and fresh sea water, there are floating villages in almost every cove.

What is more surprising is to hear the barks of dogs echoing off cliffs as you approaching the isolated houses or villages. But then when a single red snapper fish could fetch up to $10 a kilogram, you realize that you would need to protect your investments and assets. Getting off the sea kayaks and onto a floating farm is a careful business. You don't want to slip into a section of the farm where the fully grown red snappers are. After seeing the way they decimate their fish food, a hunk of fresh meat in a tank would not stand a chance!

But the villagers are not without the mod cons. We saw some with satellite dishes and TV even! Best of all was the village to village delivery. Little boats stocked with the everyday condiments of life would go from one place to the next. We were assured that there was nothing that these ladies in their boats could not supply. We nicknamed them "Tesco's home delivery"!

Being on a sea kayak gives you a real feel of the ocean currents underneath you and it brings you much closer to what endless swell can do to the base of these limestone islands. There were plenty of caves and lagoons that we paddled through; plenty of overhangs we paddled beneath were evidence enough of the destructive force of water. But then when you pull up on to a white sanded beach, this is where that eroded materials comes to. One's destruction is another's creation.

Because we were spending two nights out here, the rest of our little group departed back to the mainland and we had it all to ourselves. Once we were off the water, the guide and the two trainee guides (useless would be a good term to describe them as. We still have no idea what their names were!) would pretty much leave us alone to do our own thing. After a swim in warm sea water as the sun goes down and later a bellyful of ultra-fresh seafood and other dishes, the fire demanded our attention with a cold beer or two!

It was with a little sadness that we left behind three days of kayaking, but we had plenty of stunning memories! Go kayaking here and you feel that you have earned your supper, and better yet, the beers that follow!