Day 15 - Ha Noi | Main | Camping with the boys
Another long drive
We had originally booked to go to Halong Bay on the Emerude which is a large boat with a distinctly deco feel about it - the website and pictures looked great, and while it was expensive we were happy to go with a quality experience. However on arriving in Vietnam we realised that I had stupidly booked it for the day we flew out, meaning we would have to change the flight home or cancel - so we cancelled. Our hotel the Hanoi Elegance were keen that we did go and they booked us on the Bhaya which was a little cheaper but “highly recommended”! So we took the car back on the suicidal roads and drove 3 hours to Halong City where we were dropped to wait for other passengers and the tender to take us aboard our boat.
The Bhaya
The cruise itself is fairly simple and from what I understand it is replicated by most cruise operators you cruise a small part of the bay and islands, you visit the “Secret Cave”, you climb the mountain, you do some kayaking, you eat some food, you watch the sun set, you watch the sun rise, you cruise some more, you return to base.
Secret Cave - discovered by the French in 1901
It was magic - there is no other description for the place, it has an incredible serenity with calm waters, beautiful surrounds and amazing light. We kayaked, we swam, we jagged for fish and I took about 900 photos of the changing light some of which I will include here.
dawn
tai chi
Posted by crispin at January 5, 2008 03:24 PM