Xmas Eve in Ha Long

The clocks were moved back by one hour and after breakfast we boarded the Tender for our first stop at Halong Bay for a quick look before our booked afternoon trip. Brian the Yorkie stopped by to apologise for being rude last night I quickly dismissed that simply because he was quite funny with his lovely partner Charlotte keeping him in check most of the evening The stay in Ha Long was short and sweet as there was not too much to see except taxi drivers and motor bike hirers.We settled for relaxing morning by the pool and were joined by Alan and June ,he promptly showed us a video of his wife in a very drunken state !! very funny BUT not for June. We boarded our Junk at 1.30 and headed for the Islands and what an awesome trip it was ! We were first taken into a very spectacular cave after climbing 100,s of steps yet again !It was HUGE and I have seen caves of the world but nothing like this one !!Next was a trip around part of the 1000 islands and it was breath taking !Dotted around the islands were fishing boats tied together to form villages, a sight to see.The junk we were on was used like a Dodgem Car when berthing . As we were travelling to the islands small boats came alongside trying to sell their fruit wares by knocking on the outside window holding very young children (who were very cute and methinks used to encourage passengers to buy !) Annie bought quite a few souvenirs,all at very knock down prices because she is very good at at bartering ! On return to the boat we had dinner and Annie had one of her famous naps then Xmas Eve !! First stop was the Piano Bar and a Christmas Carol sing song that was really good followed by a show where the perfomance by a juggler John Nations and he was great to watch Merry Xmas to all…Our group has now grown to 8 strong and we celebrated Xmas Eve in The Crows Nest and had another great boozy night that ended around 2 am !