October 9, 2010 - Ha Long Bay & Bai Tu Long Bay, Vietnam

October 9, 2010: Ha Long Bay & Bai Tu Long Bay, Vietnam 

After leaving Hoi An, we continued north to Hanoi, where we were present for the city's 1000 year anniversary! People came from all over the country (and the world) to witness this event. The city had decorations and lights strung everywhere, and stages set up around the city with musical performances.

From Hanoi, we took a boat to Cat Ba Island which, situated in Ha Long Bay, is a great jumping off point for boat tours of Ha Long Bay.  We spent an afternoon exploring the beaches.....

....and set out on a boat the following morning.  We lucked out! We signed on for a night aboard a boat in Ha Long Bay and the more remote waters of Bai Tu Long Bay, with potentially 6 other people, only to have the boat to ourselves (with a crew, of course)!  Here's Diana lounging on the top deck .....

The top deck of our 'private' boat in Vietnam!

Floating fishing village in Ha Long Bay

People live and work in floating huts like this, clustered all around Ha Long Bay

Fishing village with limestone formations in the background.

Bai Tu Long Bay - more remote and less populated that Ha Long Bay.

That night, we chose to forgo sleeping in the cabin and, instead, slept on the top deck underneath a clear, night sky that was loaded with stars, including some huge shooters!

The sleeping arrangements

The following day, we kayaked through small cave-like openings into private lagoons that were enclosed on all sides with jungle-covered limestone cliffs, finding groups of monkeys swinging in the trees! (Sorry, no pics - we didn't want to risk the camera in the kayak.)


October 11-12
Following our relaxing days on Ha Long Bay, we had to high-tail it back to Saigon. The next two days were a blur, and went something like: boat, bus, boat, bus, taxi, taxi, train (34 hours to Saigon!), taxi (crazed ride to airport, narrowly making our plane...), airplane, airplane.....Bali!