4,000 islands? Ha Long do we have?

We have just returned from Ha Long Bay, where we explored some of the 4,000 islands that jut inexplicably from the South China Sea. It was an amazing place, the pictures below do not do it justice and, once again, I'm going to have to recommend visiting it yourself, should you want to know what it looks like.

We were picked up from the hotel, driven to Ha Long City, we boarded the boat and were fed lunch before we visited a big cave on one of the islands. We reboarded the boat, sailed away for a while and anchored in a secluded area for some swimming. However, the surroundings became less secluded as more and more boats arrived with the same idea. Predictably, the locals had little rowing boats from which they sold the usual tourist fare - beer, cigarettes, pineapple, etc., etc. The illusion of isolation dissolved rapidly.

The first night we spent on board the boat. The next morning, we visited the largest island, known as Cat Ba Island, and checked into an hotel there. He went on a wee hike up a steep hill which had some great views from a tower at the summit. Later that day, we went kayaking to a small but empty beach and then to a lagoon that was inside a donut-shaped island. The tide was high, so we had to hop out of the kayaks, swim them through a small opening and jump back in them once inside. It was worth the hassle though.

We went back to the hotel for dinner and then on to a kareoke bar. Kareoke is very popular here. Unfortunately, no one seems able to sing. What's more, eight hour bus journeys, with maniacal drivers, on barely passable roads are only just about bearable before the kareoke starts up. Also, for some reason, it's considered very cool to put bits of English into songs. There was one particularly popular song in Cambodia whose chorus began with the classic line

"I love you, loving you, like the mouse so loves the rice"

and ended with the words

"Everything, I do it for you"

which had the same tune as a certain Brian Adams song that was UK number one for 17 weeks in the early 90s. Bizarre.

After some beer and kareoke, we retired early to bed, but woke up again at 01.45 to watch the Champions' League Final.

We came back to Hanoi today. Ha Long Bay was the best thing we've done on this holiday thus far. If you want to know why, all you have to do is come and visit Vietnam. It's after midnight and I'm tired, so I'll leave it there.

Shopping will be done tomorrow and Dee is going home the day after.

Toby.