My previous memory of Halong bay was being extremely hot and uncomfortable on a little wooden tug boat. Halong Bay is stunning no matter how you see it but the stress of being out on water with no shade and a lot of heat does make me uneasy. If ever there was a way to see this stunning scenery, today we got it spot on!
We all got rushed onto a coach this morning by an enthusiastic but slightly sleazy tour guide (I'm not sure if it's just bad English but he was making some rather awkward comment about us girls.) Anyway the tour started well with a friendly and lively crowd on the bus. Things settled down and we all went quiet to watch the world go by for the 4hour journey.
We arrived at the harbour and were ferried by small tug boat to the main boat, from the outside it looked better than I had worried about. 
We had welcome drinks in the dining room which was lovely, air conditioned and again so much better than I had expected.
We were given our room keys and all my worries disappeared as we entered the ensuite double room!! I had been imagining hammocks in the corridors of an old wooden boat with a hot engine and no aircon.
Lunch was fantastic, traditional, home cooked dishes and we had some time to rest after that. In the afternoon we were shipped to a floating island to canoe around it. Poor Edd did most of the work whilst I sat trying to make sure our valuables didn't get wet.
We decided not to leave them on the beach with everyone else's stuff so everything was balanced on my lap in the little boat. The views were breath taking and reminded me of scenery from avatar, the photos just don't do it justice!!
We have had a lovely, lovely evening chatting with two Germans and an Aussie whilst learning to make spring rolls and attempting to fish for squid (no such luck, we're not really sure if we had the technique right or if there were even any quid in the water!!)
The food has been amazing and we have been served dish after dish of seafood, meats, veg and rice as well as spring rolls, soup and chips!
There was talk of karaoke but I'm disappointed to say I'm tucked up in bed having not sung anything!
Up early at 6.15 tomorrow for Thai Chi so must sleep now.
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