Hello, sailor! Cruising Halong Bay

The final leg of our trip was an overnight cruise on Halong Bay. It was only the day prior that we actually confirmed that we'd be going - the surrounding area has been badly affected by serious flooding during the current "wet season" (inverted commas because we've seen little evidence of wet, other than the perspiration pouring from us every minute of the day). It was a relief, because Halong Bay is one of the Grail Destinations that inspired the trip in the first place.

Before we could cruise, we had a 4-5 hour bus trip from Hanoi to enjoy/endure. More Vietnamese bum massage, and the scenic delights of coal power stations, astonishing electrical wiring, and more. A rail line exists, but is apparently only used for freight. Feedback: put on a high speed passenger train.

As we drew nearer, the horizon started to fill up with oddly shaped little hills as a teaser to what we were expecting to see. We hopped onto our tender boat, and headed out into the bay to our home for the night which in some ways was evocative of the Ichobezi houseboat on which we safaried on the Chobe River. Multi-storey, lovely little cabins, couches in the shade, load of glass for great views, and a bar.

Some renowned destinations can be a bit of a letdown (eg Circus Maximus), but there was none of that here. The place looks like you dream it might, and we spent much time just gazing rapt at the beauty.

Our tender boat, which we towed behind us, took us to an island with the largest limestone cave in the bay. Pretty amazing (wanted to write "cool" but it was anything but inside, which was surprising based on past cave visits), even if the lighting to highlight some features was a touch overdone.

Food on the boat was excellent, plenty of seafood (hopefully not caught in the bay, you should see the water- human waste is just dumped from the hundreds of boats) & characteristically impressive fruit/vegetable carvings. We were later shown how to make a net out of carrot, gonna need a lot of practice to achieve that.

The graceful notes of karaoke filled the evening air, demonstrating that even though everyone thinks it's cheesy all nations and people get involved.

We missed sunrise (thankfully Paul, the group's keenest photographer, reported that we didn't miss much), but found time to do some kayaking. Most of this was within a sort of amphitheatre, reached under a limestone arch. Lovely and peaceful, monkeys on the cliffs, beautiful light, we even managed to rescue a damsel in distress after Barbara & Bazza's kayak sank (the bung had been left out).

With a strong feeling of wistfulness we returned to shore. Not only was our time at Halong Bay coming to a premature end (we recommend to or three night stays to make the most of it), but the trip was also starting to wind up. Time for group photos before the grand scenery was too far behind us, then back to Hanoi (another 4-5 hours of bum massage) and the farewell dinner.

The crew L-R: Bazza, Anne, Barbara, Tracey, Andrew, Anna, Hannah, Neamh, Cat, Denise, Rebekah, Alfie, Paul, Liz, Grant, Colin.