We headed out of Hanoi for a 2 day trip into Northern Vietnam. Our destination was Halong Bay for a tour of the islands and caves and an overnight stay on a Chinese junk boat. Our guide called Long was, as most of the Vietnamese people are, very happy and enthusiastic and got us involved in some very cheesy introductions and applause whilst on the bus. It was great to drive out into the countryside and see the mountains appearing and people at work in the paddy fields. The harbour was completely chaotic and we had to climb over at least 3 other boats to get to ours - we were met with a glass of bubbly and shown around the junk which was just pure luxury....this is definitely travelling in style (we later found out that we had been upgraded). We left the chaos behind and headed out into the peace and quiet of the ocean. Halong Bay is made up of around 3000 islands rising up out of the sea and within these there are numerous caves to explore. The weather was quite grey but luckily it didn't detract from the beauty of the place. After lunch (which was primarily shellfish) we sailed toward the "Amazing Caves" - we were met by various locals in small boats along the way trying to sell shells and Oreo cookies. A couple of young boys in a boat hitched a ride by throwing a rope up for me to hang onto which was quite entertaining but gave me some serious rope burn! The Amazing Caves did exactly as it said on the tin. They were enormous and had some cool natural rock formations e.g. a turtle, monkey, Napoleon and....well, it depended on which way your brain works but it was either a finger pointing upwards or a certain male organ. We carried on our journey later in the day to Ti Top Island and climbed to the top of the cliff to admire the view over Halong Bay - it would have been pretty spectacular had we been able to see the sun as it set rather than clouds but it was still well worth the climb. Ho Chi Minh himself climbed to the top of the island when he was 73 years of age and before steps were installed so I expect he was a pretty fit bloke! We anchored up for the night in the bay and sat down to dinner which was really well presented but it was yet more shellfish! The following morning (no shellfish for breakfast!) we went out in the kayaks and paddled into a lovely cove and around the bay before heading back to the junk and journeying back to Hanoi. In case you're wondering....we had shellfish for lunch!