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Published: August 4th 2008
Hello from Hanoi! Ninh Binh was beautiful and it was great to get off the tourist track. We rented a couple of bikes and rode through the paddie fields and stunning landscape although we were caught in the pouring rain at one point (it is monsoon season up north) and ended up coming back to the hotel drenched! All good fun though!! After Ninh Binh we took a bus to Halong City and booked an overnight boat tour where you stay out at sea (along with quite a few other boats) amongst the mountains that jut out of the water. We were the lucky ones who had a really nice boat for a little amount of money- most of the people on the boat paid a whole lot more than us but us, being scrupulous backpackers, didn't let anyone take us for a ride!! One of the main questions everyone always asks when they get onto the boat is 'so, how much did you pay?' as everyone is scared they have paid too much. And most people do.
Halong Bay is a premier tourist attraction and it's starting to show. It is beautiful but the water is dirty and the
boats are polluting the water which is a shame. It was really fun though and we had a good bunch of people on the boat from all over the world- mostly Aussies and French though (so many French in Vietnam!). We had a few drinks on the deck that night. The next day it poured down whilst we were on the boat which actually made the scenery that much more beautiful. In that respect, it was good to see what Halong Bay looks like from a non-postcard perspective. After the boat trip we got off at Cat Ba island which is the only populated island off Halong Bay. We didn't really feel it there though so left the following day to the capital city - Hanoi - which is where we are now. We plan to go to Ho Chi Minh's tomb and maybe see a couple of other things over the next couple of days before leaving for Bangkok on Wednesday evening.
We have really enjoyed Vietnam but are also happy to be leaving for a new place. So next stop Bangkok!! Will report back soon! xx
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