Day 11–13 Halong Bay

We wandered around Halong this morning – in search of coffee and to stretch our legs before our boat journey. There’s a heap of construction so the area will look very different in a few years time.

We walked to the beach. Lots of tree planting with each tree assigned it’s own number plate.

The beach was deserted. Lots of chairs setup for anyone wanting to look out to the back.

Then it was off to our boat to sail through the bay. We had a pretty swanky room for the first night with our own little balcony.

First activity was kayaking at the Pearl Farm. The vests were a bit ‘interesting’ – hard to find one remotely the right size.

Luckily we stayed dry side up as we did our little cruise around.

Next was swimming and hiking. The beach was a little crowded for my taste we we opted for the hike.

Lots of stairs, 100 humidity but a pretty decent view.

There was a bit of a queue right at the top to get a photo.

Eventually we could see the view.

Next morning we could see sunrise from our bed

Then transfer to the day boat for our stay at the “bungalow”. There wasn’t a lot of time but thee was a paid option to go to the shore. I’d spotted the Canon Fort on Cat Ba and thought we’d miss it.

So we got our little boat ride to the island.

Walked up the 10% gradient hill to the Canon Fort. Quite cool with a few canons and ruins to check out.

View to die for at the very top with a well-placed café for an icecream and a cold drink.

Night at the bungalow and then boat back to Halong and a long drive back to Hanoi. Now it’s really busy – scooters everywhere. Time to hid in our hotel room to avoid the streets of Hanoi