Vietnam Day 8 and 9 - Overnight in Ha Long Bay

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We left Hanoi in the morning and took a mini-bus to Ha Long (Descending Dragon) Bay. Again there were many interesting sights to see along the way.

Once we got to the bay, we were taken by a punt-type boat to our overnight accommodation boat. I was staying on the V-Spirit Classic, which was the ‘basic’ option for my tour. It wasn’t really all that basic, and I was quite happy with my room, which included an ensuite with shower!

We headed off into the bay (along with MANY other boats) to see the limestone islands. People came by in their little boats trying to sell us wares. I just smiled and waved at them, as I didn’t want to buy anything.

Our first ‘tour’ was to some limestone caves. Having been to Janolan Caves in the Blue Mountains Australia, I was admittedly disappointed, however they were still spectacular, albeit crowded.

After visiting the caves, we went to another area where we had the choice to get in a kayak or be rowed by a local in a punt-type boat. I chose the latter as I didn’t have a partner for the kayak, and I figured I’m so uncoordinated I would probably end up swimming in the bay, and I was feeling lazy.

We had dinner on board and they showed us how to cook prawns Vietnamese-style. Lots of steam was involved!

We also had after dinner activities including making figures from wooden tiles, and squid fishing (although I do think they were joking about the squid fishing as no one caught anything!)

I had a great night’s sleep and woke up to a fantastic view out the window of my room the following morning!

Our first activity after breakfast was to visit a beach. Those people on the cruise from Europe loved the beach, but since we have great beaches in Sydney, I wasn’t too thrilled.

We then had a make-your-own lunch activity of rice paper rolls we could fill with a lot of different ingredients. This wasn’t the first time I’d done this so I was getting better at it! We also had a demonstration on how to make fruit carvings!



We then headed back to Hanoi and got in quite late that night. I just settled into my hotel room and went to sleep.

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