Awesome Hanoi, Vietnam #4 Halong Bay

After a two days one night trip in Sapa, we were ready for our next tour to Halong Bay. We reached Hanoi early in the morning at 5am on 5th August, 2013. We were to take a taxi back to the hostel. When we reached the hostel, it was CLOSED! All the shops were closed! We had no choice but to sit in front of the hostel and wait for it to open. People might be thinking, wouldn't it be very dangerous to sit by the street early in the morning when the sky was still dark? Well, all I can say is, it was a really quiet street and you cannot find a single soul walking around. It was more scary that way when we were all alone. Honestly, I felt more relieve when I saw a backpacker walking passed us.

Sitting in front of the hostel.

We decided around while waiting for the hostel to open. We walked to St. Joseph's Cathedral area for another round of photo shooting. We even found a 24 hours shop there and bought some mineral water. We had some bread to fill our stomach and enjoyed the view of sunrise in Hanoi.

St. Joseph's Cathedral at 5am.

After an hour time spent at the church, we went back and saw the French we met in Sapa. Not long after that, the hostel finally open and we quickly entered to take shower and had our breakfast.

Our first breakfast in Central Backpackers Hostel.

Around 9am, our tour guide finally arrived. We took a van to Halong Bay. The journey was 4 hours long. In the van, there were a USA uncle, Singaporean uncle and aunty, a pair of Vietnamese couple, a Canadian and a English. We did not have much interactions with others except for the Singaporeans. Besides, the tour guide was good. He can speak Mandarin and we were glad about that. Haha!

Along the way, we had a short stop at ABC Stopover. Some stopover that I have seen in Shanghai trip. They sell expensive stuff there. It was very hot when we reached Halong Bay. I can feel my skin burning under the hot sun although I had put on some sunblock. We went on a boat and started the tour. We had our lunch on the boat.

On the way to Halong Bay, we saw this famous Long Bien bridge.

Fried spring roll.

Fried egg.

Fresh prawns.

Steamed fish.

We were given two options when we stopped at the dock, either kayak or boat. We chosen a boat cruise around the islets.

The lady rowing the boat.

Boat cruise at Halong Bay.

The floating school.

Our next stop was to visit two caves. We had to climb many flight of stairs to reach the caves.

The first cave.

The second cave.

Around 4pm, the tour ended. We got back to the mainland and took another 4 hours journey back to Hanoi. We stopped at the same stopover again to have our dinner.

Our dinner. I bet pho tasted like this too.

We reached Hanoi around 9pm. After checking-in to our room, we went for a night walk in Hanoi. We crossed and turned into many streets until we thought we were lost. Luckily we had a map with us and found our way back. Before we went back to the hostel, we managed to visit the shop that sells coffee which our tour guide, Linh, recommended us on the first day. We tried the world most expensive coffee - Civet Coffee and bought some.

The lady boss treated us tea.

We bought this one cup of Civet/Weasel Coffee.

Around 11.30pm, we got back to the hostel and rested. Halong Bay has very nice scenery. It is worth a tour if you are a nature lover. However, I wished we have try a few days tour in Halong Bay. Maybe that would be a different and better experience.

Goodbye, Halong Bay~

For more pictures, click here.