Blogs from Halong Bay, Quang Ninh, Northeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 5

We travelled from Dien Bien Phu to Sapa in a minivan, and apart from a lunch stop that was more for the benefit of the driver catching up with some mates than us actually being able to obtain any food, it was a pretty easy 10 hour trip. On arrival in Sapa we were swamped by the ladies from the surrounding hill tribes trying to sell us their treks and home-stays. They had remarkably good English (all learnt from practicing with tourists) and were incredibly persistent. The 2 ladies that attached themselves to us followed us around the town for 2 hours! The 2 hours part was more our fault though because we had encountered another unexpected holiday - Sapa Cultural Week! What joy... everything was booked out and we felt like it was ground hog ... read more

My friend and I were dreaming of going on a cruise together and so when the opportunity to travel to see the Halong Bay came through, we grabbed it with both hands. We started off in classy Singapore airlines on the first day of the year. I watched a lovely historical Chinese movie called 'Face Reader' with all the thrills and drama of the Chinese court. We landed in Hanoi and it was lovely to feel the slight chill after hot Singapore. We immediately set off to see the Ho Chin Minh mausoleum and the Ethnology museum. I was lost as I admired the 53 different ethnicities in a country like Vietnam. I am too scared to think of the same in huge countries like China and India! We had some street food of baguettes, sausages ... read more

After breakfast we left Boss and picked up another couple. Typical stop on way at giant tourist shop with silk and lacquer ware and giant stone turtles. On arrival to Halong Bay 3hrs later we were ushered to the Glory Cruise waiting area and offered tea whilst we waited for our fellow cruisers. A tender took us out to our junk. Really lovely timber interior with lots of velvety accessories. Once everyone was on board we cruised through the bay with the massive limestone rocks passing by as we had lunch. We stopped at a fishing village and kayakked around. A fellow traveller lost his iphone from his pocket as he got out of the canoe so our return to the boat was delayed a little as one of the local guys tried diving for it. ... read more

Waking up early for the bus to collect me to take me to Halong bay on a 3 day, 2 night trip. Cat, a canadian girl I had chatted to at the hostel a few nights before was also doing this trip but only doing 2 day, 1 night stay. She had been picked up on time, but I was still waiting. 15 minutes later than the suggested pick up time, my pick up arrived...a chick on a motorbike. She drove me through the crazy roads to the bus where everyone was waiting for me (even Cat was on there). They obviously forgot about me. I arrived in Halong Bay at 12.30pm, where we clambered into a small boat that took us to our small cruise ship. I shared a room with Cat, which worked out ... read more

Vanuit Hue namen we een minibusje naar een gehuchtje in de omgeving van Son Trach. Onderweg maakten we nog twee stops in de zogenaamde DMZ (gedemilitariseerde zone): de 10 km brede strip land die diende als buffer tussen Noord- en Zuid-Vietnam van 1954 tot 1975 en die tijdens de oorlog zogezegd vrij van oorlogsgeweld zou blijven. In werkelijkheid werd het een van de meest gemilitariseerde zones ter wereld. Eerst hielden we halt bij de Ben Hai River, de rivier die de officiële scheiding markeerde tussen Noord en Zuid. Een groot monument en klein museum herdenken er de oorlog. Een twintigtal kilometer verder stopten we een tweede keer, ditmaal voor een bezoek aan de Vinh Moc Tunnels. Tijdens de Vietnamoorlog besloot een Noord-Vietnamees dorpje volledig ondergronds te gaan om te ontsnappen aan de niet aflatende bommenregen van ... read more