Ha Long

... work, so I got a visa and ticket and was off to Vietnam fast. It was a short trip: about five days in the capital, and three days in Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO world heritage site. All in all, the trip was pretty much a feeding frenzy for me--I loved the grub!

... port.  They took us for lunch at a restaurant and then drove us back to our Hanoi guest house.  That was that for Ha Long Bay.  Next stop Sa Pa… Real Time Update:  We are sitting in Luang Prabang airport waiting to check in ...

... lui ai ri au nez en lui demandant ce qu'il comptait faire des autres touristes à bord et surtout des suivants qui les attendaient à Ha Long city... Caroline était là aussi pour me soutenir et les faire chier autant que moi. Quand on leur a dit qu'on ...

... ) and his bride (representing a goddess) giving birth to 100 children which are the ancestors of the Vietnamese people. The Ha Long myth illustrate the Vietnamese belief of their origin and the fact that throughout their history, they are aided by their ...

... would soon prove to be.   We got back to land, exited the boat, got in the van, and drove a short way through Ha Long, back tracked, then found our hotel. After some tense moments waiting, J. stuck by her guns and got us the rooms at the ...

... as possible - 'the winds from China are coming, you must go now'. We thought bugger it, seeing it's difficult to do Ha Long Bay independently, everything operates through the tour's. We were shell shocked to see the mass of tourist lining up at the ...

Before I start telling you about Ha Long Bay I just want to mention the tour operator we went with, we searched for hours on the internet to find a good but reasonably priced one and couldn't find information anywhere to help us. So I’m taking ...

... some reason we were allowed to take our big packs with us and so we were saved any kind of panicked road-side repacking. At Ha Long City Rachel and I were separated from our group and given to another tour guide. This became the theme for the next few ...

... exploration, and all meals. The deal seemed too good to be true, since it only cost us about 1.3 million Dong ($62). Our journey through Ha Long Bay began first in Hanoi, where we caught an 8 a.m. shuttle out to the main harbor, Ha Long City. We arrived ...

... for more kayaking among the karsts and that was very nice as well. If someone is short on time, just do the 1-night/2-day Ha Long overnight boat trip. That said, we were glad we did the 2-night trip because we had zero interest in spending much time in ...

... another day sailing around Halong Bay and then made our way by ac bus back to Hanoi, this was after another delicious lunch back in Ha Long City. Upon Arrival in Hanoi we repacked our bags in the guesthouse and ate dinner in one of the cafes we had found ...

... were fighting foreign invaders the gods sent a family of dragons to help them defend themselves. The family of dragons descended upon Ha Long Bay and began spitting out jewels and jade. When the jewels hit the sea, they turned into the islands and formed ...

... a more expensive tour might have been better, but I still feel like we would have been herded around like goats. Saying that.... Ha Long Bay is really beautiful and we were blessed with two lovely sunny days (a rarity in Vietnam at this time of the year) ...