Thanks to the Reunification Day and Labour Day, we got an extra-long weekend at the end of April, for a last chance to go away for more than two days before the summer! A group of 6 of us travelled up on the airoplane to the capital city, Hanoi. We all loved the cooler temperature, which gave it a holiday feel. We pottered around the old quarter, stopping off at places for street food and coffee along the way.
We headed to the expat area for an evening meal, and then Luce and I went to meet Richard and his friend, who happened to be over from Hong Kong on the same dates we were up North. We hadn’t seen each other in years (we couldn’t work out how many but around 7 or 8 we think!) so it was fab catching up after so long, and a catch up drink turned in to many! We got to the hotel around 3, in time to catch a few hours’ sleep before our 6am rise for our trip to Halong Bay!
After a 3 and a half hour very hungover bus journey, we made it to Halong, and boarded our boat, The Treasure Junk, which was to become home for the next three days.
On the first day, we entered the bay, whilst having lunch, then headed out in the afternoon on kayaks.
The evening started with a cooking class, and was followed by cocktails on the deck at sunrise, a delicious meal, the Vietnam episode of Top Gear, and squid fishing.
The second day began with an early morning Tai Chi session at the front of the boat. After breakfast, we boarded a smaller boat, which took us further away from the touristy area.
We spent more time kayaking, swimming, chilling on the beach, and sunbathing on the boat. We also swam around the caves, which started off fun, but we soon wished it to be over when we were swimming against the tide on the way back and started spotting lots of jellyfish...whoops! It seemed like a good idea at the time!
When we got back, we freshened up, and spent a second night enjoying relaxing on the boat, enjoying the food and cocktails, another cooking class, and more squid fishing.
On our last morning, we hopped onto bamboo boats to visit a secluded floating village surrounded by the mountains.
We then headed back to the bay to get on the bus and make our way back to Hanoi. On our final day in Hanoi, we enjoyed drinks and chill time at The Hanoi Social Club, a cute little cafe, before making our way back to the airport. An amazing few days! Next stop...Singapore!
