Back From Halong Bay (& on to Ninh Binh)

We just returned from a 3 day 2 night trip to Halong bay and Cat Ba Island. Just a short post about it now, more to follow.

It was just short of spectacular, certainly in the scenery and in the value for dollar department.



$48 got a pretty nice package. First we took a bus to Halong City (about 3 hours), and the remainder of the first day cruising and kayaking through the amazing scenery. The water around the 1969 islands on the edge of the Gulf Of Tonkin was calm and the weather a bit cool and cloudy but still comfortable for us Canucks. That night we slept on the boat in a very nice and large room on the lower deck of the all wooden boat.

The next day we cruised and kayaked some more and stopped at another island to ride bikes to a small village and back, later switching to another boat to travel to Cat Ba. Then a short ride on the back of motorcycles took us to our hotel, where we had a tremendous view over the water as the sun set (yes the sun came out after several rany & overcast days!). A beach resort kind of town, it was still small enough especially since it is the off-season to not be too loud or difficult to manage.



Today we took the small boat back and once again switched mid canal to the larger sleeper boat to return to Halong City on the mainland and then bused back to the bustling insanity of Hanoi. My butt is just starting to recover from minibus numbness.

Soon we will be picked up to board our soft seat bus to Ninh Binh, and should be paddling down a river through some caves near Tam Coc. Tomorrow night a sleeper bus should be taking us to Hue.

All for now, more detail later.