Halong Bay

Experiencing Halong Bay ......world heritage area 

Pick up at the  Marigold hotel 8 am for a 3.5 hour mini bus ride to the Indochina junk terminal at Halong Bay.

We were welcomed by our guide Phouc and escorted to the tender for transfer to the vessel.

Your Junk awaits

Dragon Pearl 111 is delightful , described as a luxury cruise boat, and it did not disappoint. Compact cabin but well appointed and the bathroom was very clean and had all facilities and plenty of hot water.

Welcome aboard

Welcome pineapple juice on the foredeck shown to our cabins and mustered for lunch, that will be a five course lunch!  Rice, salad,  greens, prawns, minced oysters , clams, soup, fresh fruits chicken, washed down with Tiger and Halida beer, while we are cruising to our first stop.

Luxury cabin Dragon Pearl 111

Time to grab your bathers, sunscreen, hats etc and off we go kyaking , swimming and exploring a cave. The water temp was probably around 28 c.

Plenty of activity

The essence of Halong Bay

Back on board for quick shower and watch the sunset from the sundeck with a G&T......what else? Summoned for dinner, yes more food......prawns, crab, salad, rice, fruits, spring rolls, went well with a French chardonnay.

Brilliant sunsets

Food sculptures were awesome

Now you can go squid fishing if you like. But it's off to bed and a good nights sleep in that comfy cabin for us.

Early the next morning we are under way again before breakfast,but soon we arrive at a fishing village, ready to sample their simple way of life on the water. We are loaded into bamboo boats , two at a time,and rowed around the village for about 45 mins.

Houses are built in bamboo rafts and all tethered together, and somehow anchored to an island. Houses are complete with mini gardens, dogs, cats, and a boat several children...wonder if any fall off and drown? We visit the school which is sponsored by the Killara high school in Sydney, it's very simple a few desks, seats, and a cabinet with some books and pencils.

We keep exploring the bay and are taken under a rock arch......wonder when it will fall? Around we go to the oyster farm and finish our journey at thee all shop. Then it's back on board the Dragon Pearl for our trip back to port and lunch while cruising. Food on board is varied and very plentiful, Gina is not feeling very well .....seams to be food related so she's going light on the intake.

The floating village

Stunning rock formation Halong Bay

Australian sponsored school

Under the arch they go

Seeding the oysters

We arrive back in port and have to wait for the bus to transport us 3 hours back to Hanoi, it arrives eventually and we set off, us, the two American couples and a family of four from wales.  Strange noise coming from under the bus the blokes can't quite work out what it could be, a sort of grinding noise when we go around a corner!  Ok well we soon find out about half hour into the journey the drive shaft drops to the ground.....just lucky we are In the middle of a town. We all get off inspect the damage, unload the bags because it is obvious this bus isn't going anywhere.  The drive calls his mates driving other buses and one stops to pick up the family....they have a train to catch.  Next another bus comes back and takes us on board, then another bus turns up for the remainder.  All was well and really the whole process only took 20-30 minutes.

We arrived back in Hanoi to the Marigold hotel in time  to drop our bags and seek out a nice restaurant for dinner., the Green Tangerine but first a beer at the cafe across the road so we can watch the passing parade of bikes, scooters and cars.