Halong Bay day trip

We hired a tour guide who came with a driver to take us to Halong Bay from our hotel in Hanoi. The trip by car takes about 3.5 hours with a stop at a tourist souvenir centre for about 20 minutes which stocked the same items that are available in the markets and shops in Hanoi. The car ride certainly was an experience with constant lane changing (often on the wrong side of the road ) as we passed through many small villages and rice fields. Some of the cargo being carried on the back of motorbikes had to be seen to believed and the the most astonishing item was a washing machine being transported!

Arriving at Halong Bay the number of boats available to take passengers on a cruise is incredible and despite the large numbers of tourists we boarded our boat efficiently with 8 other tourists. 

A seafood lunch was served on the boat while we headed out to the Bay and I was a bit concerned that the amount of boats would spoil the experience. But due to the vast size of the bay it was certainly peaceful as we motored around the countless limestone pillars and islands. 

The weather was perfect and our tour guide told us that it is such a gamble with the weather and often after arriving the boat rides are cancelled due to the bad weather. Certain tours stop off at the many floating villages along the way but we instead stopped of at a huge caves called  "Hung Dau Go" ( Cave of  Wooden Stakes ) which gets its name from where the Vietnamese use to store sharpened wooden stakes to fight of the Mongolians in the 13 century. 

The caves are reached by climbing 90 steps and once inside there are 3 chambers with many stalactites and stalagmites which our guide had much fun pointing out various formations that looked like certain objects. Some were easily seen but others required a vivid imagination!

Our boat for the the afternoon

Just so many limestone formations 

The symbol of Halong Bay  - Fighting roosters or Kissing chickens

A calm and clear day

Emerald waters of Halong Bay

Despite the large number of boats - peaceful spots could be found

Peaceful Halong Bay

Floating village

Fishing boats

"Dog" on a rock

Hung Dau Go caves

Hung Dau Go caves

Hung Dau Go caves

Hung Dau Go caves

Hung Dau Go caves

The tour boats at the caves

Hanoi - Vietnam

Taking advantage of the Labour Day holiday in Singapore, we headed off to Hanoi for 5 days. As the holiday was also been celebrated in Vietnam the mad traffic most people mention about Hanoi was rather tame in terms of quantity but the lane changing and driving on the wrong side of the road lived up to expectations.
We stayed in the West Lake area which had many large homes lining the lake and was a short taxi ride into town.
The city is divided into different tourist areas and we spent most of the time walking around the French Quarter and also the Old Quarter.
The Old Quarter is the main tourist shopping area and the shops are filled with lacquer products, silk items and woven items made by the hill tribes of Vietnam.
People watching was very entertaining in Hanoi especially the locals going about their daily routines - from the fresh rice noodle sellers, flower sellers , vendors cooking in the street to men having their haircuts and shaves done on the footpaths.

Because of the holiday many families were taking advantage of the days off and were spending the  the day beside the Hoan Kiem Lake.

Martyr's Monument

The Huc Bridge over Hoan Kiem Lake

Thap Rua - Tortoise tower on Hoan Kiem Lake

Peace memorial

Le Thai To monument

Balloon seller

Basket and hat seller

Opera house

Vegetable market

Cooking pork patties in the street

Hanoi Cathedral

Rice noodle seller

Traffic free- for- all

3D cards vendor

One of the many barbers on the footpaths