We were up early again, and Zoe actually made it to the Thai Chi class. We all had a cup of coffee or tea before we headed off to see the cave.

We hopped on the smaller boat, which took us across to the cave. As we walked to the steps to take us up to the cave, the water was at low tide, and you could see all the molluscs clinging onto the side of the rock. The fishermen come here early in the morning to get their haul.

To get to the cave entrance, you have to climb up around 60 steps. From here, you get a lovely view over Bai Tu Long Bay,  which is the largest sea sanctuary in North Vietnam. There are many plant species near this cave, so it has another name, “Hang Co”, which means “grass cave”.

It is just a few more steps to the small opening leading into the cave. You have to duck your head as you go through.

There is no fairytale legend associated with this cave, although its name means ‘mountain with a view of fairyland’. This cave has simply been formed by the erosion and deposition of limestones for millions of years. The impacts of water erode the calcium crystals in limestone, and then the crystals combine together on the ceiling and ground of the cave to create stalagmites and stalactites. It is a really beautiful cave, with lots of sparkling rocks.

Our guide showed us how you could play the drums on some of the stalactites, so we had a go at that, too.

We walked through the cave and popped out on the other side.

As we walked back to the entrance, several other groups started to come in, and it got a little bit crowded. We went down to the beach on Cong Do island and paddled in the water for a bit.

And then it was back to the cruise ship to pack up and have brunch.

Around 1200 to 1500 guests visit Halong Bay every day, and 100 – 200 people go to the cave every day.

We settled ourselves on deck whilst we made our final journey back to the international port in Halong Bay.

We anchored, and you could see the Bai Chay bridge, which is the longest central-lined cable-stayed bridge in Vietnam at a total length of 1,106m. Looking the other way you could see the’sun wheel’ which stands 215m above sea level.

As we disembarked onto our smaller boat for the last time, the cruise ship raised its sails.

It was a really amazing 2 day cruise through the bays, and very relaxing, too.

Once back on dry land, we got a taxi to our hotel in Halong. The streets all looked very quiet as we drove through them, and we later learnt that we were very much visiting out of season.

Our hotel had a pool so after we acquired some towels, we went upstairs to the pool to relax.

It was a really hot day, and there wasn’t much shade up on the roof, so we decided to go for a stroll instead.

For some unknown reason, the main street our hotel was on, and the one we walked down, had a range of statues of composers.

We walked past Nhac Nouc – Sun Carnival, a massive open-air venue.

After a bit more walking, we decided it was time for a drink and some food. Unfortunately, we ordered cheesy chips and they tasted pretty awful – it was chips with some sort of powder sprinkled on top!

Although the streets were empty, they were quite pretty, with some lovely shops.

Gill and I found some angel wings, so had to take the obligatory photo.

We continued walking down to Sun World, a massive recreational and amusement park.

We did think about getting the cable car over to the other side, but it was quite expensive, so we decided against it.

As we walked back to the hotel, the sun was beginning to set.

It was very strange being in a tourist area with very few people around. We asked the receptionist in our hotel for recommendations for dinner. She pointed us in the direction of a seafood restaurant. It was around a 20-minute walk from the hotel, but it was a great recommendation.

It seemed like all the people who were in Halong had congregated here as it was really busy. Our waiter and waitress were really patient with us as we tried to work out what to order.

Karen and Mandy picked their lobster, which ended up looking amazing on their plate!

I ordered a jellyfish salad as I had never seen jellyfish on the menu before. It was definitely different – it didn’t really have any flavour, and the texture was a bit like cartilage – it was quite crunchy. I had about 8-10 pieces, but I probably wouldn’t order it again. Everyone else tried it, too.

We also had some delicious grilled prawns and some morning glory salad, as well as fried rice.

After we had finished I went to look at the lobsters etc that you could choose to eat. The waitress handed me a squid, which o then dropped, trying to put it back in the tank. Trying to prise it off the floor took some doing.

This is one of the best meals wd had, and it was extremely cheap even though we had beer and wine as well. I think I paid about £15.

We got a little golf buggy type taxi back to the hotel and then headed to bed.