We woke after a good rest in our somewhat noisy hotel room, we had breakfast before deciding to take a tour boat around Ha Long bay. There were lots of tour operators, however we had missed the main departure of the tourist boats, we would have to take a private boat- or at least that's the only option we were being offered. This seemed to be a reasonably option although we probablly paid through the nose at 25us$ each. We were taken on a bus to a small harbour and boarded a large wooden boat with a with what looked like a telegraph pole for a mast, there was not enough wind to sail, the boat used a motor. We passed through so spectacular scenary massive caste mountains towering from the sea covered in green vegetation, looking alien to me. The sky was grey and heavy with poor visibility- a shame as we could only imagine how beautiful it would have looked with bright blue sky and turquoise sea. After about 2 hrs the boat stopped in a remote deserted bay they dropped anchor and served lunch of fresh fish, squid and vegetable stir fry, spinach and garlic, and dragon fruit... One of the best meals we had eaten. We then continued on to some impressive caves. We got off the boat to walk through the caves- they were cavey.... Roo thought one of the stalactite formations looked rather phallic, not helped by the red light they had placed beneath it to illuminate it- she did make me take a pic of her making rude suggestions with it. Of course with my innocent nature I had no idea of what she was doing but took a good picture all the same!! The boat sailed on next stop was kayaking. Roo and I shared a boat, her grasp of steering was an interesting interpretation! We passed local people who lived aboard these floating platforms. They were farming something- we assumed it was oysters as there were loads of pearls for sale on the shore. It was nice to get off the motor boat and on to the water. Loads of the local were rowing wooden boats with a strange backing down type stroke and very thin oars- it looked really hard work!! It took 45 mins to paddle around one of the mountains- my shoulders were killing by the end! Next stop on the tour monkey island we were shuttled from the big boat in the kayak to the shore- it was an interesting manoeuvre getting from the boat to the kayak, and off the kayak to the beach without getting too wet- the only casualty my left foot!! It remained wet (and cold) all day * Garumph*!! Climbed up an over grown craggy path to the summit- very impressive views! Then down the other side in to an exclusive looking beach resort with maybe 10 shacks on stilts and a white sandy beach... Oh to be warm enough to be wearing a bikini and sit on a beach! There was a short ride back to Cat Ba island where we rewarded out busy day with a cold beer for the outrageous price of 75p!!