Halong Bay

Slept really badly. Woke up at 1 and couldn't get back to sleep. Then our neighbours got up at 4am and banged around for over an hour 🤬.
Breakfast pancakes and fruit for me, omelette for Anna. Got accosted by an American missionary who says 'we don't use that word' then preached at us for a while.
Got picked up by the Hermes limousine bus (giant comfy seats that recline) just after 8 and driven to Halong Bay with a stop at a large shop where Anna bought a couple of sewn pictures. I snoozed most of the way.
We boarded our Hermes cruise and had lunch straight away as the boat cruised through the bay. It was a bit drizzly but still looked spectacular.
They told me I was special vegetarian so I couldn't have the buffet but gave me soup, chips and a sandwich. I was pretty disappointed at the blandness / lack of veggies compared to the buffet. However half way through this they then came out with spring rolls, a delicious lemongrass salad and tofu curry! Mr Ben, our young waiter was hilarious, I asked him how to say delicious but apparently my pronunciation said water buffalo and had him stitches.
Fully stuffed, we checked into our Presidential suite - we treated ourselves to proper luxury for this and it doesn't disappoint - apart from the hot tub on our sundeck is lukewarm at best. £930 for 2 nights, 3 days including all food and activities.
Then we all piled onto a tender boat and we're driven to some caves. My expectations were low and I think every boat has the same itinerary (and there's tons of boats) so there was a long slow queue to start with standing in the rain. However once it got passed a point where everyone was taking viewpoint photos, it calmed down. There were 3 chambers of the cave and it was immense! It was called the amazing cave and it really was. Our tour guide kept pointing out rocks that looked like various animals, some a bit more imagination-needing than others.
Then we drove to another area where you could kayak or be rowed in a bamboo boat. We opted for kayaking and paddled through a cave and around the hidden bay the other side. Stunning and great fun despite it now pouring with rain and completely soaking our lower halves.
To warm up, we ran the spa bath in the bathroom and turned on the jets. Anna had some of the free bottle of wine they'd left in the room. We missed the spring roll making class and neither of us wanted happy hour so went back to chill and both fell asleep.
Dinner was a delicious 5 course affair accompanied by a Vietnamese viola player.Read more