Bai Tu Long

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Bai tu long
It’s Thursday morning so a quick three hour car journey to Halong Bay stopping for lunch and a water puppet show along the way. Certainly something you should see while you are in Vietnam but not something to see twice!

Once in Halong we were greeted by our host, Tom and escorted to our boat for our 3 day tour on the Dragon Pearl 1 - a very comfortable boat for 15 of us.

A mix of Brits, Americans,Swiss and Austrians. And what a trip it was.

Bai Tu Long is further away and has less tourist traffic than Halong Bay but with very similar scenery ie scattered islands and limestone stacks set against the sea and ‘mostly’ blue skies.

Moving serenely around the bay was incredibly relaxing and the food on board fantastic.

As we went round we managed 2 trips out on kayaks, on the first apparently I wouldn’t let Sue steer. Miraculously however on the second day there was only one oar! So that meant Sue took it easy, taking in the scenery and taking photos while I paddled and steered - funnily enough no arguments!

On the second day we also stopped at a secluded beach where we swam and had a marvellous BBQ cooked by the chef, who looked about 12, and visited a fishing village, Vonh Vieng. The village was sheltered from any major storms in the area within an island group and housed some 32 families (100 people). They also farmed clams and produced pearls.

Sadly the trip had to come to an end on the Thursday day and after another wonderful lunch and beautiful half day, we got off the boat and headed back to Hanoi for a third time. Of which more another day.

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