Sat 8 April
Up early and had another tasty breakfast at the hotel, checked out - felt like we were saying goodbye to family as they were all so friendly and the manager, James wanted to make sure we were all happy! We were delighted with everything about this place but do feel we had the best room in the house so that was a real bonus! At 8 .30 our little bus from A Class cruises arrived to take us to Halong Bay where we would be spending the next 2 nights. The journey to Halong Bay took about 4 hours as the road is very busy and there is so much traffic going to the Bay. Often the road would narrow to single lane making long back-ups! We traveled through countryside, farmlands and the Red River Delta. We made the usual mandatory toilet stop in a tourist center so you would be enticed to spend money during your 20 min stop! Had a coffee and a kit kat at a very inflated price! Skies were overcast and grey, we were so hoping to see Halong Bay in the sunshine but think you have to be very lucky to experience that! We arrived at Tuan Chau marina and amazed at how many 100's of boats are moored there! Apparently there are 400 boats out in the bay area every day! OMG mass tourism at its best but as it's a World Heritage Site and northern Vietnam's No 1 tourist hub - not surprising! We finally boarded the boat and received a welcome drink whilst we were briefed on the itinerary and met the crew and Manager of the boat . All the boats seem to be pretty old but they had done a good job of painting and keeping the style of an old darkened wood interior. We were in a cabin downstairs but with a big window and modernized bathroom although the shower stall was a little old! Paid US$218 per person for the trip, including transfers from Hanoi. The boat was the A Class "Legend" with a total of 14 cabins and a large crew (all from the kitchen I think!). We set off to negotiate through the limestone pillars and tiny islets topped by forests, rising from the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. "Halong translates as 'where the dragon descends into the sea' and legend tells that this mystical seascape was created when a giant mountain dragon charged towards the coast, its flailing tail gouging out valleys and crevasses. As the creature plunged into the sea, the area filled with water leaving only the pinnacles showing." It is a spectacular scatter of islands with many wind and wave eroded grottoes - absolutely stunning, even though it was shrouded in mist and cloud! We unpacked a few things and then met up in the restaurant for lunch . Shared our table with a lovely Irish couple living in London, Steve & Sarah, and 2 travel agent buddies who used to work together in Sydney for Google Travel, one (Irish) now working in Auckland and one (kiwi) in Sydney. Lunch consisted of many courses and was all delicious - wow it looked like we would be eating like kings! After lunch we all boarded a smaller launch and headed to Luon Cave (Hang Luon). We arrived at a floating platform which served as a dock for the many launches coming into the area. Originally we were supposed to take a kayak and paddle around the emerald waters of Luon Cave BUT for some unknown reason the Vietnamese Govt placed an outright ban on kayaks in Halong Bay as from 1st April! (Just our luck). All the tour companies are up in arms and appealing this decision, the Govt citing that there are too many kayaks and they are wrecking the environment! Smells like job protection to me as now we have to be rowed in "bamboo" boats to visit the caves and lagoon! It really is a very pretty lagoon and we came across a little band of monkeys living on the sheer faced limestone rocks! We were rowed through a beautiful archway that opened up to this lagoon . So beautiful and kept trying to imagine how bedazzling it would be if the sun shone through!) We went back to our launch and were then taken to Dao Titop (Titop Island) which was swarming with tourists but provided a beach for swimming and a steep climb to the top for stunning panoramic views across the Bay. So many 100's of tourists so you had to be patient for your pics! Chatted to a group of 4 Malaysian boys that were on our boat - telling us about their cheap weekend deals they pick up and travel all over Asia on! Most people do a 1 night stay on the Cruise boats but we opted to do 2 as felt it was hurried otherwise - all very well organised with the bled of the 1 nighters and the 2 nighters and taking us off the boat for the 2nd day whilst the boat goes back to Halong to fetch the next load of passengers! After the beautiful views on Titop we were shuttled back to the Boat where we had a cocktail followed by a glass of wine with the manager and got to chat to some of the other passengers. Quick change for dinner and then had another gourmet, multi course dinner and socializing with the others . It was a very pleasant day - by now the captain had moved to his designated area with other A Class Boats (very strict and tightly controlled with permits apparently)! Had a good nights sleep and the waters were very nice and calm, lucky for me!

Sun 9 April
For those who wanted to be up at 6.30 you could opt to take a Tai Chi session on the sun deck! For the rest of us sloths we just got up and had breakfast, said our goodbyes to all the one-night trippers and headed off on a smaller launch to pick up other passengers from two A Class Boats anchored nearby. A German couple with their 2 small kids, An Aussie man with his 10 year old daughter and the Irish couple - Steve & Sarah and ourselves. We would be spending the day together on our various jaunts. Firstly we went to a small island and were the first group to disembark and walk through a small cave system (name forgotten!) and a short hike to what appeared to be a lake but was apparently a lagoon. Then climbed up to a lookout rock and had a good view of the scenic islands around . Then we took off to a floating village of Cua Van. Most of the people from this village have been relocated to the mainland as the Govt no longer wanted them living in the heritage site! The few that remain are the local fishing families who live on their small boats. Heard some amazing stories from our guide who used to live on one of the boats and told of her going into labor in the middle of the night and having to be rushed in a storm to Halong Bay! They were not happy to be relocated to living on the land! It was interesting being shown around a floating museum showing all the traditional fishing methods and how the locals used to live and work in the area. We returned to our day boat for another delicious selection of courses for lunch and then relaxed on the sun deck whilst we pottered around the much quieter area of Halong Bay. This second day is to be highly recommended as you get away from the intense population of other tourists and boats and is much more enjoyable. Big bonus is that the sun kept breaking through the clouds so we got some lovely views of the bays and limestone kharsts! We made our way passed several floating pearl farms and stopped at a large operation, the Halong Pearl Farm . We were met by a team of ladies in their traditional Vietnamese dresses and given a tour of the pearl farm, learning in great detail about the growing of cultured pearls. Very interesting hearing about the production and the grading of the cultures. Of course there was a large shop at the end, encouraging to spend your fortunes on the beautiful jewelry there. We happen to be there at the same time as a boat load of South Africans and the ladies were all indulging in much retail therapy! Had a good chuckle! Back on the boat and cruised back to where our original boat the "Legend" was - bidding au revoir to the families we had been with and had a few drinks on the sundeck with Steve & Sarah before meeting our new ship mates! A few Aussies on this one. Yet again we had another delicious spread for dinner and had a chilled evening chatting to people and then going to put our feet up for the last "proper" evening of our holiday - tomorrow airport hotel and then home sweet home :) !

Mon 10 April
Again no Tai Chi for the sloths but breakfast and time to pack and chill a little . Steve and Sarah trying to book their onward travels and a bike tour but internet terrible so they used my phone to try and get sorted for everything but a little chaotic for them trying to do the last minute scramble. Decided they would train to Hue and then get a bike tour to Nha Trang. We set off on the launch to Surprising Cave (Hang Sung Sot) joining a long line of people waiting to climb the stairs up to the entrance of the cave system. It consists of 3 spectacularly large chambers with an amazing show of stalactites and stalagmites - it is very crowded with tour groups and you have to shuffle around the pathways to get to see them all. Amazing sight and well lit giving quite an amazing show of the formations. We spent about an hour here and then returned to the boat to move all our belongings out of the cabin. We had a cooking demonstration in the dining room and were shown how to make spring rolls and decorative swans (I'll never be able to duplicate his works of art!) - we then made up all the spring rolls for lunch - having an early lunch on board whilst we joined the convoy of boats heading back to the marina . Interesting watching the freight ships coming in at right and left angles and crossing our bows, but soon saw the cruise boats have to give way so much turning and pacing so no collisions! Said our goodbyes to the Manager and the friendly staff and waited on shore for the small bus to drop off the next load of passengers so we could head back to Hanoi. Did the mandatory loo stop again and Steve & Sarah decided they now wanted to fly so mad scurry with the phone - booking tickets etc. We were both heading to the airport and were due to be dropped at the bus terminal but suddenly time was running out and the guide organised for them to be picked up at a gas station on our way into town! The taxi couldn't fit us all so we continued with our bus plan! The guide kept asking if we were sure we wanted to be dropped at the locals only depot - we assured him we would be fine! The driver dropped us as near as he could to Long Bien bus station and we walked about 1/2 km to find the right stand # for the Public Bus #17 to take us to the airport. We luckily saw the bus pull in as we were approaching so jumped on and settled in for the hour long ride for about 40c ! It really was the slow route and the locals only - anyway we weren't in a hurry so got to see the scenery and back streets and tracked it on Maps Me thinking we would just hop off when we got close to the "Family Airport Hotel" . All was well until the bus turned and headed away from the hotel - obviously doing a loop around to the airport! (Later found there is actually an express bus that we should have taken from downtown Hanoi!) Called the hotel and they told us to get off at the airport and they would send a car to meet us! Meantime my phone kept ringing with Steve & Sarah's tour guide from Hue asking us what was happening! This happened several times during the evening - we told him to be patient that they were in flight and would be there! What chaos! Jumped off the bus at the airport and waited about 1 min before a black car came and whisked us away to our hotel - more like a family run guesthouse but brand new and nothing much around it - lovely large room with huge marble bathroom! 5 mins from the airport and bargain at CA$26 for the night plus $4 per transfer! Decided to risk the restaurant upstairs as didn't want to go wandering around and tried to order from the menu - everything had run out - not sure why they didn't just tell us - this is what you are having for dinner! ha ha ! No one else in the restaurant which made us think we were the only ones staying! Spent the rest of the night organizing the luggage - throwing away all the old tattered and stained clothes that I had been living in for 3 months - making room for all the Hoi An new clothes I'd had made and so no longer had the extra bag to carry! All ready now and both of us now really looking forward to getting home as the list of things to do was growing rapidly! It is also tax time and the Accountant was patiently waiting for many things - was also going to hit the ground running on the return as all the kids would be home at various stages over Easter and Tim's passport needed renewing asap as his exchange uni were waiting for a copy of the new one! Very excited to get home now!