Day 24 - Alice's B'day and the engagement day (but not what you think!) And where better to spend it.

An early start as we were off to Halong Bay for our 2 day / 1 night boat trip around the islands. A nice full breakfast this time during which Alice was presented with a bunch of roses by the hotel staff which was a nice surprise.

A 4 hour bus ride including a diversion around a huge traffic jam and also an overturned truck further down the route. In England the road would have been closed for 3 days but not here, it was a go around policy!!

We arrived at the bay with drizzle in the air and some kind of haze over the bay so the islands were barely visible. We got talking to a nice couple of Aussie girls on the bus who were on a 2 week holiday from nursing back home. We hopped on a little boat which took us out to our Junk - the Calypso. On the boat, we set sail and sat down for lunch whilst cruising out towards the islands. We'd gone for a small boat with 14 cabins - we were on the second floor in a nice panelled cabin with ensuite.

During our extensive lunch, the cloud cleared and it turned into a beautiful day so we lounged on top deck whilst taking in the amazing views. We cruised down to a really nice spot before getting off and going for a visit to the 'amazing cave' which I've got to say was pretty cool - a large complex of limestone caverns with some impressive stalagmites and stalactites.

Back on the boat for a bit of chill out time when we had the opportunity to go for a swim. We both took the plunge (although one of us needed more convincing than the other), along with two Norwegian girls - no one else was brave enough but it was actually quite warm!

Back on board it was time to get ready for dinner. Before dinner we had a cookery class where we were shown how to cook the Vietnamese speciality of pork spring rolls. We were shown how to do it and then we had to roll them ourselves before the chef cooked them for us. We got chatting to another Aussie couple and then it was time for dinner. Out came more amazing food including large prawns, muscles, seabass and barbecued pork along with sides! It seemed to just keep coming, every time we thought that must be the last course, another would land on the table.

Just as we were having a fruit dessert the guide in charge stood up and asked for silence. "Everyone, today is a special day for one person on board, Alice, it's her birthday so from all the crew we wish you a very special day and hope it has been memorable." This was met with huge embarrassment!! A table was then set up in the middle of the room where a glass fountain was set up. The guide then stood up again and made another announcement as the couple sat on their own table behind us got engaged! There was no down on one knee or anything and it seemed to pass us by as to what was happening. We weren't the only ones though as the rest of the table didn't know either. We were then both asked to stand up and blow out 2 candles on the birthday cake which was followed by us having to both hold a knife together and cut the cake. Anybody would have thought it was our wedding day!! The engaged couple were doing the same opposite. Alice was then handed a bottle of Dalat, a Vietnamese red wine which she had to pour from the top to fill all the glasses. Really hard to describe but was really surreal as we weren't expecting it at all. I may have to play along and say I organised it all!! I had tried to organise a bottle of champagne in the room when we got on board but the hotel manager said she had it sorted, didn't realise it would be that but a nice surprise for the b'day girl and one hopefully she won't forget.

One thing I will not take credit for is the music that was put on after dinner, some kind of techno music for a disco! We retired up onto the top desk and had a really long chat with the Aussie couple again and a few more drinks. A really mild evening and so quiet considering we were quite near a few other boats. Off to bed to be rocked to sleep ready for a 6:30am Ti Chi class in the morning!! An amazing day with beautiful scenery and some really good company.