Halong Bay

Today we made the 3 hour coach journey for an overnight cruise on Halong Bay. After the obligatory tourist stop to find out about the local pearl farming industry (actually very interesting  although the pearls themselves, while dazzlingly pretty, were eye-wateringly expensive,) we boarded our boat in time for lunch while watching the limestone outcrops of the bay drift by.

We made an afternoon stop to explore the spectacular cave system on one of the larger islands in the bay. The colours of the rock formations and the stalactites and stalagmites were stunning but it was the vast size of the caves that took the breath away: the main photo here was taken just at the exit to the cave system, looking back down into the main cave; the tininess of the figures on the cave floor gives some idea of the scale.

An hour or so of cruising later we stopped again to go sea kayaking, another first for Tess & I. Sadly, I haven't got any photos of this being too intent as we were on staying upright and going in the right direction! actually, to our surprise we got the knack of it straight away and really enjoyed an hour of paddling around a large bay, exploring the various islands.

Back on board there was just time to change for pre-dinner drinks at the bar on deck from where the extra of a neighbouring boat was taken just after sundown.

Once again, the Vietnamese food was really tasty, being somewhere between Thai and Chinese, very much as Vietnam is geographically, with a variety of stir fries and curries and lots of fresh veg, herbs and spices