Blogs from Halong Bay, Quang Ninh, Northeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 56

well...our adventures definately begin yesterday arrived at halong bay and boarded our junk...opposite to what it sounds like...it is a big beautiful wooden boat. we were the youngest on the boat by about 40 years...they were 'the golden oldies'. Started the tour with a massive seafood lunch...full once again! we cruised around the bay to the cave of surprises..very pretty indeed. then being as adventurous as we are we decided to go kayaking..despite being freezing cold we got into our short boardies and toughed it!. we had an hour to paddle around the islands before our boat came back to pick us up and it was great fun, we only had one close encounter with another boat..great navigation skills! so after an hour we got back to the meeting point, a piece of wood floating in ... read more

Day 230, 16th January Halong City West - Halong City East (ferry) Cat Ba Island The other guys found us at our hotel, they were in the other Halong City (east) and told us that they had hired a boat for US$40 that would take us and our six bikes to Cat Ba town on Cat Ba Island, inclusive was a tour of Halong Bay! So we got ready and caught the small ferry over to Halong City East and boarded our boat with another backpacker, Christoph from France. The small motor-boat seemed top-heavy with our bikes on the roof and we became a little concerned as it set off into the jungle of islands that dot the bay. The jouney was nothing far from magnificent. Azure waters with thousands of rocky little tree-covered islands. We ... read more

We got picked up just after 8am & arrived at Ha Long City at about 11.30am; we had bumped into the Bristol Boys again but didn't expect them to be on the same boat as us, funny enough they were. They also managed to bump into Cliff Richard on the Pier & spoke to him & got a photo. I was so gutted that I had managed to walk past Sir Cliff & not even notice! We had lunch on the boat & met two Irish girls, Sinead & Rachel, they were good fun so we after lunch the eight of us sat on the top deck & watched some of the three thousand islands pass us by, it was such a beautiful place, my photos don't do it justice. Ha Long Bay is another UNESCO ... read more

Comme le temps s'annoncait peu clement en fin de semaine, et qu'on avait plus envie que ca de rester a Hanoi, on a decide de partir assez vite pour la Baie d'Ha Long. C'est assez galere d'aller par ses propres moyens dans la baie, du coup avec les Canadiens et Americains, on a pris un voyage de 2 jours avec croisiere dans la baie. La on a quitte les Anglais qui eux ont pris un trip de 3 jours. Petit voyage vraiment tres sympa, deja parce que la baie d'Ha Long est vraiment magnifique, qu'on a pu faire un peu de kayak et un petit saut dans l'eau (un peu froide par contre), et que l'ambiance etait vraiment top. Sur le bateau on a rencontre un Australien qui voyageait seul depuis decembre, et un couple Anglais-Suedoise. ... read more

Hanoi is the gateway to the northern part of Vietnam, and most travellers use it as a base to visit Sapa and Halong Bay. We were signed up for both, as Meg - a seasoned traveller - had recommended both locations. We had booked our tours through our hotel in Hanoi, and the hotel owner indicated that it would be pleasant in Halong Bay, and that swimming was definitely on the agenda. So it was with great enthusiasm that we packed our daypacks with swimsuits, suntan lotion, hats and some t-shirts and other light clothing. A short 3 hour bus journey later and we were at the pier ready to board the boat. We were with a great group of travellers and we were all coming to the same conclusion that perhaps it wouldn't be as ... read more