Bach Dang Hotel Halong Halong Bay

From Hanoi we booked a 3 day 2 night trip to Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island. This involved sleeping on a junk boat for the first night then in a hotel on Cat Ba Island for the second. The first day we boarded the boat and had a seafood dinner then set sail for Suprise Cave in Halong Bay (Maybe you can spot why its called Suprise in the pictures..) After walking round these caves we were shattered, really steep climbs and the ...

Minh Chau Beach on Quan Land island is the nicest beach of Vietnam - Sand like snow and smooth like silk. We are lucky to stay at Minh Chau Beach Resort front of Tram forest and beach.<br><br>Room are very nice with friendly services. The boss from Hanoi invested here. He said to us, on December 2002, he went to this island for and adventure trip. He found that this beach is so nice, he decided to buy ...

... like it would be with people our age and hopefully on the same wavelengh. The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around the city checking out some sights including the Hoa Prison (or Hanoi Hilton to american POW) which was where Senator John McCain was inprisoned while he was taken captive during the war. It was strange to see how the war was explained up in the North to the South of Vietnam i.e heavilly on the fact that the Viet Cong were heroes and that ...

... was happy to get back to the Halong Pearl, where the staff speaks a little English, and are very warm and welcoming, and where I could take a shower and have free wireless internet (when working) and a good breakfast, all for $40. The Pearl was so accommodating, and they had given me a really good rate. I was pleased to see that I can make good decisions when need be, and I felt ready for the next day with whatever challenges I might face, to move the project forward.<br>

... further into the bay - the further we got, the less huts there were which allowed us to really appretiate the natural beauty of the place. Finding a quiet bay we ancored up and went for a swim to a nearby beach. Whilst we were out and about the crew prepared a fantastic fresh lunch for us all which included fish, squid, octopus, spring rolls and salad. Our last stop of the day was at Monkey Island. As its name suggests it was overrun with the little furry things and we spent ...

... came closer. The baby monkeys stayed in the trees hanging, and occasionally falling from the branches. The adults went to get the food and the male bared his teeth, hissing a tourist getting too close with his camera. We watched them play for a while then headed back for Phouc's free happy hour. <br>At 4.30 Phouc comes down the beach the a polystyrene boat and a bucket. He jumps in his boat and invites us into the water for 'Happy hour'. We each grab a ...

... After your cruise, return back to Hanoi.<br><br>This was a very long day. Left the hotel at 8:30 and it takes 3 1/2 hrs to drive to Halong. Halong is about 150km from Hanoi but the speed is about 40 - 60 km all the way when moving.<br><br>On the way I saw people working in rice paddies.... with the rice sitting on the side of the raos to dry. we drove through multiple villages with lots of moto that we had to avoid. One village is by the coal power plant with the coal mine near ...

... one, it had come done to the disused hut on the side of the beach and broken into a box of crisps some tourist had left behind previously. We took a few photos of it, and then it was time to leave. So off we then headed to Cat Ba Island.<br><br>When we arrived we were shown to our hotel, it wasn't as nice as the previous nights room on the junk, but it was still nice all the same. We went down for lunch (which to be honest wasn't that nice at all) and then it was a free ...

... rice and soya sauce - a lot of rice! But we had the last laugh as no one had really mastered chopsticks and so everyday they were left with a table of rice and squid, rice and veg....<br> Our unenthusuastic guide brought us the this huge channel of caves and halfheartedly told us the a story about fairies and dragons??? The caves were enormous though and very impressive. We embarked once ...

... stand there blankly as the bus speeds off down the road. Again, I find myself standing on the roadside with the proverbial thumb up my ****, sans the plethora of motorbike taxi men. I sat on the roadside of the motorway and waited in what was fast becoming a monsoon. Five minutes past before a motorbike man wearing a giant yellow waterproof came along and took me into the hotel(ish) part of Halong Bay. He dropped me at the first ...