The train from Sapa gets back into Hanoi at about 5.30 am. What do you do at such an early hour? Tonkins organised a “wake-up” cyclo ride for us around the Old Quarter and the lake. Nga, who handled all our arrangements met us at that early hour herself which was lovely and the ride around the lake enabled us to watch the people exercising – just fascinating. At a reasonable hour we also nipped back to our hotel where our luggage was stored and changed our Sapa back pack for our Halong Bay bag. The cyclos then dropped us off at the café at the “top” of the lake and we had breakfast - most memorable for the very yummy mango juice. I think it was a great way to fill in those few hours. We were amazed by how many people were up and about at that early hour and the various activities they were engaged in. Particularly fascinating were the number of people tearing up newspaper ready to wrap around rose blooms as they came in from the flower market.

Our transport to Halong Bay arrived at the café and we finally got to meet Maz 1 and her daughter with whom we had arranged to cruise Halong Bay. The 3 hour drive seemed to pass very quickly as we talked, laughed and shared details of our travels thus far. Erica and I had originally been booked on Dragon Pearl but changed our arrangements to try the brand new boat – Baha – and we are so glad we did. (Not that Dragon Pearl wouldn’t have been lovely – but for the same price we were lucky enough to get a taste of absolute luxury.) The two mother/daughter duos were the only passengers on the Bhaya until later in the day when a speed boat brought a Spanish couple and their teenage son to join us. We hardly saw this family as they returned to the mainland at 7.00 am the next morning. Overnight on the Baha was part of their very crowded itinerary.

The boat is just beautiful. All cabins have a big window to take advantage of the view and are fitted out timber furniture, silk bedding and modern bathrooms with granite benches etc. Roses and a welcome message from the young French manager and his crew completed our first impressions. The dining room was gorgeous and food was fantastic. Maz’s message to the boat that she is unable to eat seafood had not got through and although this seemed to have them reeling it was only for a few moments and they coped beautifully with some lovely alternatives.

So many people have mentioned number of boats at the wharf and the mad clamber over them to get to each one. When we first arrived we though we must have been in the wrong place as we could not see any other boat – just Bhaya, anchored a short way out. We were transferred from the wharf to the boat on the Bhaya runabout which was also used to explore a number of caves and the fishing village. Until the next morning we rarely saw another boat. We seemed to either go to the fishing village and various caves at a different time or Bhaya used other locations. The only boat in sight when we anchored for the evening was the Emeraude. Most of us had a swim – the water was warm and clean – no sign of rubbish. We had begun to think we were the only people in the world until our last little cave trip early next morning. We rounded an island and there in front of us was a whole flotilla of boats – many names that I recognized from my research and a few I had never heard of. As we passed through on the runabout boatloads of people were also getting into runabouts to make the journey through the cave and into a beautiful but hardly peaceful(with all the runabouts including ours) lagoon. Around all these boats the water was cloudy and full of rubbish. We were glad we didn’t go swimming in this area.

Only downside of this trip is that Erica did not feel well (we suspect it was from food we ate at Bac Ha). She spent part of the afternoon in bed but we decided that if you are going to get sick you may as well do so in the lap of luxury! From her bed she had the most beautiful view and at least I had someone else to play with while she was recovering. She felt well enough to join us for dinner and then we sat up and watched the movie Indochine on a big screen the staff set up in the dining room.

All in all this was one of the highlights of our trip – even for Erica! Halong Bay is magnificent but to experience it surrounded by such luxury was incredible – not the sort of experience we would usually be able to afford. So glad we were able to be one of Bhayas early customers at such a great price. We were lucky indeed!