Ha Long Bay

Its back to the lap of luxury for us.  We have to transfer to the boat via "speed boat" but it turns out its only named this because its faster than the main boat.  Its more like a small passenger boat.

There are only about 60 people on board and we start with lunch; the most fantastic seafood buffet with crabs, giant prawns, oysters, seafood pho and snail patties.   We have our own waiter who only looks after us a one other table. After this meal he takes us to our rooms and we are checked into the most gorgeous rooms with balconies.  


The scenery is stunning and even though there are many more cruise ships in the Bay much of the time we have lovely views of the bay uninterrupted by other ships.  

We then take the launch to the Light Dark Cave where we kayak for about an hour.  Then its back to the boat to jump off the ship and swim.  After this I take the most glorious bath looking out at the scenery.  

At 5pm we have drinks to celebrate Emma's 16th birthday and watch the sunset.  At 7pm we have a lovely dinner, pumpkin soup, prawn entree and seabass spring rolls.  Dessert is an unusual black rice pudding.  Luckily for us they have realised it's Emma's birthday and surprise her with singing and a cake. This is a delicious lemon sponge which we share with the other diners.



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