Day 3 - Hanoi to Halong Bay

 

We checked out of our Hanoi hotel and were taken on a 4 hour coach journey to Halong Bay. The trip was quite scenic as we passed through rural rice fields and other agricultural areas and also a few small towns.



We then joined our boat for the next few nights for a cruise around Halong Bay. Almost straight away we sailed between the gigantic limestone rocks, or karsts as they are known. Apparently there are 1900 of these in the bay. The sun was shining but it was misty in the distance.






We arrived at our overnight mooring point, shared by numerous other tourist boats, and then went on a tour to “Surprise Cave” which was a very large cave inside one of the casts. The path through the main chamber of the cave was over 1 kilometer.






After this we went to another karst where we could climb around 450 steps to a viewing area at the top or go to the beach. We chose to go to the viewing area and are both glad we did as the views were really spectacular.




We then came back to the boat and had a lesson in Vietnamese Cookery where we made some spring rolls. There was a competition to find the best spring roll maker. Paul won his heat and went on to the final where he was beaten by a fellow passenger.



The internet is not good on the boat so have not been able to upload any videos.

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