Like sailors on a long trip we awaited land fall with eager anticipation. When land was sighted it was ethereal, the islands or should I say limestone rock formations that force themselves out of the sea were shrouded in mist creating a mysterious foreboding atmosphere. So I shut the curtains in the suite and ordered some room service.

We dropped anchor in Halong bay and travelled by tender to the shore where we were dropped off on rusty ferry doubling up as pier. The traditional Seabourn red carpet welcome allowed us to transfer the 15 feet from one side of the ferry to the other where transferred on to a Chinese style junk for a 3 hour tour of Halong bay. The Vietnamese economy is developing but you have to say the junk owners certainly has a good grasp of Capitalism. With a captive audience we were plied with a range of goods, I believe Bridget who was on one of the other Junks, having been separated from the Woods and the Pardons was the only one to succumb to the high pressure sales tactics.

How to frighten a bunch of Americans, bring a high speed boat (faster than our Junk) add a machete waving skipper and you have a recipe for full scale nuclear retaliation. Obama was alerted, the 747 took off and Cheyenne mountain was put on alert. The reality was that there was bit of a misunderstanding between our boat and the skipper of the fast approaching boat. This is what happened………………

Vietnamese boat families approach Junks travelling to the tourist sites in Halong bay with the objective of selling goods to the tourists on board the Junks. The boat that approached our Junk had young children aboard probably aged between 4 and 6 years old. When the boats came alongside the children jumped from their parents boat onto a narrow ledge on our Junk holding bunches of bananas that they were to sell to us. Our boat skipper fearing the children would be crushed between the two boats forced the children back on their parents boat and proceeded to kick the parents boat to force it apart from our junk. At this point it all got a bit messy with the father of the boat thinking the skipper of our boat was trying harm his children. The children's father then produced a machete and proceeded to chase up and down his boat attempting to get at our skipper. Finally it all quietened down and boats parted. Maximum strength tranquilisers served to all the Americans that needed it and our cruise around Halong Bay continued.

Halong Bay is a must visit, it is stunning, however if you go in the high season it will be crowded. As you pass through the floating village and onto the popular locations in the bay even in the low season (now) there are Junk traffic jams. If you do go in the high season the views you will get will be stunning - you must go if you can.

Returning to the ship for lunch Sue and I then took the tender back out to the ferry and decided to go it alone walking along the shore front. Halong Bay in low season is a bit like Southend in the low season, however, we did find a café that was open and served Lavazza coffee. This was a real result and one of the best coffees on this trip so far.

Enjoy the snow,

Dave and the crew……… Sue, Jan, Bridget, John and John