We arrived in Hanoi pretty early and shared a taxi from the airport with an Aussie guy we sat next to on the plane and a Canadian couple we had seen on and off through our Highlands trip. All of the guidebooks warn you about the various hotel and trip scams in Hanoi and of course our taxi tried to get us into his hotel as is usal in asia. Eventually we managed to get dropped off by the lake and after an hour and a half of lugging our bags about we found an ok hotel that didn't cost the earth! Our first day in Hanoi was spent wandering around the very quaint streets in the Old Quarter and eating some wicked food in a lovely french restaurant with a gorgeous bottle of vino, such a hard life. On day two we decided to start looking into Ha Long Bay trips; the receptionist at our hotel was very very pushy and tried her hardest to sell us a trip from the hotel but having read so many bad things we were determined we would not be ripped off and we would go on a lovely boat rather than a not so lovely boat! after a few hours of pounding the pavements we agreed on a three day two night stay on the IndoChina Sails Boat (Or so we thought!!) and prepared ourselves for a few days of luxury and pampering. When we booked the trip we decided to try the whole honeymoon thing in the vain and pathetic attempt to get upgraded to the suite on the boat, worth a try we figured! We were picked up from the hotel at 8 by our deluxe minibus (a converted ford transit) and took the three hour journey down to Ha Long (or bay of the descending dragon) with the obligitory stop off at a pottery factory en route (I think we are becoming a little too s/e asia cynical now!). On arriving at the Jetty we had a quick cold drink and then boarded the tender which took us to the Classic Sail Junk which we were to spend the next three days aboard. The junk was pretty cool but we realised soon enough that we were certainly not on the IndoChina Sails boat as we had been promised - hey ho!! Unfortunately the old honeymoon trick failed miserably and were dagenham dustbins as tel calls em! were assigned the cabin at the rear of the boat right next to the septic tanks and the engine room - Karma perhaps?? The 'scrumptious' seafood lunch served was mediocre in comparison to the vietnamese food we had eaten so far but during lunch we cruised through the bay, the weather was perfect and the scenery was absolutely breathtaking, things weren't so bad after all! After lunch we moored in one of the bays and kayaked round the islands and through some limestone caves which was wicked fun. After this we were free to swim and sunbathe and so Tel set about doing somersaults and diving off the top deck with one of the lads on the boat (4 days later and his back is still sore!!??), i decided to sip my vodka and tonic from under the shade of the umbrella - heavenly! The junk set off again for another hours cruise to the sleeping area where we would spend the night. We had a lovely few hours on the top deck chatting with all the other passengers and taking in the surroundings, there was no sunset unfortunately but it was still awesome. Having spent too long talking and drinking we only had time for a quick shower and the it was time for another 'scrumptious' meal (I always worry when menu's use the word scrumptious, it never bodes well!)

Dinner was ok but not quite the elaborate feast it was made out to be but again the surroundings and company more than made up for it. After dinner our honeymoon white lie caught up on us and we were presented with a beautiful cake which we obvioulsy did the obligatory cutting of, it was quite cool actually as we never had a wedding cake and so was a lovely first for both of us! After dinner everybody went to their cabins so we decided to make the most of it and lay on the top deck watching the starts and the full moon with a few cold beers - happy days! we were given a breakfast call at 7 and made our way up to the dining room for a pretty pitiful breakfast of bread and laughing cow triangles! After breakfast we made our way on the tender (Read rust bucket) to Amazing Cave or Sung Sot as it is known locally. The cave was absolutely enormous and was incredibly beautiful and the 100 steps up to the cave gave us some beautiful views over the bay - what a lovely start to the day. Everybody else on the boat was only on a 2 day 1 night trip so when we got back to the boat everyone else prepared to make their way back to Hanoi but we got our stuff ready and got on another small boat that would be ours for the day to cruise around some more. The boat was a little pitiful with a makeshift tarpaulin on top deck but to be able to sail around the floating fishing village and numerous bays on our own boat was absolutely amazing and we had a perfect day kayaking to small beaches and having lunch (The same as the day before?!) aboard our own little boat. After a lovely snooze in the shade we made our way back to the junk to meet our new companions for the evening and do a little bit more sunbathing and swimming and then cruising back to the sleeping area for the evening. This was our fourth meal on the boat and we started having bets on what would be served, we guessed correctly and the obligitory spring rools and beef in oyster sauce was dished up, we washed it down with an extortionately priced bottle of red but again the scenery and the company more than made up for any of the boat's shortcomings! Breakfast was again served at seven and unfortunately i woke up with a very swollen throat, possibly due to the engine fumes in our cabin, so we relaxed on the boat while the other group went to see the cave we saw the previous morning. From here we cruised back slowly (They love the word cruise!!!) to Ha Long City while enjoying our fifth identical meal. On arrival back in the city we waited in a restaurant with our guide, who at this point had totally done our heads in, for the three hour transfer back to Hanoi.
Although the boat wasn't exactly what we had been promised and it wasn't quite as luxurious as we had been led to believe we had a wicked time and Ha Long bay was absolutely stunning. We both felt very fortunate to have been able to spend a day all on our own cruising around the smaller bays but with the small repertoire of food and lack of evening activities perhaps a 2 day 1 night would have been much better value. The only piece of advice I would give anyone thinking of booking a Ha Long trip is to make 100% sure exactly which boat you are going on and with which company and be prepared to stung quite heavily for drinks but it was more than worth it and an experience neither of us will forget in a hurry!.  Bobby Nguyen