Halong Bay was one of the places I had always wanted to go, added to that, I love Asian food and the landscapes, so a trip to Vietnam was a no-brainer. Of course all the photographs I had seen where with blistering blue skies and turquoise water. The water in Halong Bay was indeed some of the warmest water I had ever felt but the air temperature was freezing, okay, it was more like 15 degrees c, but with the wind chill and rain on a drafty old boat it felt a lot colder. None the less, seeing the rocks rising up through the mist in the bay was a stunning sight. The weather can be pretty unpredictable and can also remain unchanged for days at a time so it is something worth bearing in mind if anyone else is planning a trip there. As it was I was only on a boat for one short day, so I just had to make the most of it. There are options to stay on a boat for several days and visit some more of the thousands of tiny rock outcrops.
