A fairy tale landscape of 1969 uninhabited islands of ancient limestone cliffs stretching away from the Vietnamese coastline, set within an emerald green bay. An overnight trip to famous Ha Long Bay should be on any tourist’s itinerary.

‘Ha Long’ translates as dragon descending and has been subject to much myth-making over the centuries. Local legend credits their creation to a celestial dragon and her children sent by the Jade Emperor to stop an invasion, spitting out pearls to form islands. They have been likened to Tuscan cathedrals or pieces on a chessboard. In reality there is certainly something beautifully spooky and compelling about the place.

Tom had done a lot of research as there were many different types of boats available, all a little over our budget! We decided to go with Garden Bay Cruise and to just do a two-day and one-night tour, as we had heard that the two-night tours repeat the same activities on the second day.

If we had realised how long the bus ride from the centre of Hanoi to the port where you reach the boats was, we may have changed our mind as the two days were quite long and time on the boat a little rushed.

Our tour guide Lee showed his sense of humour and fun right from the moment he picked us up from our hotel – first stop Singapore! He joked, saying we could get to Singapore or China if we kayaked in the wrong direction!

He managed to talk most of the way – trying to rally together all the bus passengers asking us to introduce ourselves, it was mainly a European bunch, Spanish and Italian 30 something couples, us and an Australian mother and 18-year old son. The journey took around four hours, with the obligatory stopover where you look at overpriced traditional souvenirs, crafted by locals. Eventually arriving in Ha Long City, heading straight to Tuan Chau Island wharf where we first boarded a tender to finally reach our wooden junk for a late lunch.

It was a lovely boat. Our cabin was upstairs with a balcony (we had paid a little extra for this) next to the restaurant. The facilities in our room were terrific, probably one of the best of our trip so far!

After lunch we went on a visit to Thein Canh Son Cave. It was a nice chance for MoJo to learn about stalactites and stalagmites, but it wasn’t that interesting a cave, as they go. Better was the short kayak trip that followed to a beach in Cap La area with a chance to swim in the water (which was very cloudy so no chance for a snorkel). As usual we diverted our route in the kayaks a little to collect some plastic rubbish along the way.

After a beautiful sunset, drone flight and happy hour cocktails, activities continued into the evening with a cooking class and completely unsuccessful but enjoyable squid fishing session.

We woke up and almost missed sunrise it came so quick.

A Tai Chi taster session tempted me to the sun deck before breakfast.

Then for those of us leaving that day, next was a bamboo boat tour of Vung Vieng floating village in the centre of Bai Tu Long Bay. Those staying a second night transferred to a day boat.

In retrospect more time could have been nice, but for the cost we had a fantastic experience – the first time the girls slept on a boat and they continue to talk about it! We had lunch on board after a final cruise through the islands. An expensive experience but definitely a highlight of our time in Vietnam.