Our Halong Bay group on the deck |
Halong bay is that
place you see on all the pictures. I think its been in a few films,
incliding James Bond, which makes it quite recognisable around the
world. So we decided to do a boat trip there, and booked a 2 day, one
night cruise on a luxury boat around Halong Bay including all meals,
kayaking, a tour of the caves there and karaoke on the boat. We were
very lucky to be placed with an extremely nice group of people. We
got into a minibus with a load of other travellers in the morning,
and it took 3 hours to drive there. On the way they stopped for a
break at this art place for tourists where disabled people make art.
We got to Halong bay and they dropped us off right outside our boat
and we sat down for lunch with our new boatmates.
Our room on board |
They were all so
nice. 2 German sisters who had lived in Mallorca most of their lives,
2 Aussie/Indian/Sri Lankan medics who were really funny and 3
students from Britain who were all studying Chinese and living in
China. We all got on like a house on fire which made the trip what it
was. We set off through the stunning scenery on the boat and then we
stopped at some magnificent caves (the best caves I've ever seen),
where we went for a tour round inside and then we all got to kayak
around that area. Then we went to a beach with a mountain on it,
where some people swam and some climbed up the mountain. I climbed up
the mountain because the water was filthy.
Halong bay is stunning and
a world Heritage sight, but my god the water is polluted. I climbed
the mountain and got bitten to death by mozzies but the view at the
top was stunning. When we came back down, Jemma and the German girl
ran in the sea to cool off. After this, we all got back on the boat,
showered and had dinner (really nice Vietnamese food like curried
veg, rice and spring rolls – Vietnam does the best spring rolls).
And then after dinner, a few people went to bed, but a lot of us
stayed up and got really hyper doing karaoke.
Karaoke |
Vietnamese Karaoke |
I didn't drink any
alcohol but I felt like I had. The tour guide was trying to make
everyone drink this strong Vietnamese rice wine but it was foul so I
didn't drink any. Those who did got quite drunk. After the karaoke, a
few of us went up on deck on the deck chairs and put the world to
rights under the stars.
The next day was a
beautiful sunny day and it was very hot. We sailed amongst all of the
stunning fjords and mountains and it was breathtaking – some of the
best scenery I've seen in my life. It looked a lot like Milford sound
in New Zealand but better and bigger, and for the same price we paid
for a day trip in New Zealand we got a 2 day boat cruise in Vietnam.
Scene from James Bond |
After a morning of cruising, we ended the day at and oyster farm,
where they showed us how they make pearls, and then it was back into
the minibus with our new friends, where we laughed all the way back
(especially with this one guy Gareth from Nottingham who was so
funny). And on the way we stopped for lunch in a restaurant, that was
air-conditioned and I felt like I'd gone to heaven because the bus we
were on was really bouncy, rickety and the weather outside was
boiling.
Stunning scenery |
More photos on facebook: Halong Bay photos
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