A trip to Vietnam from south to north - Part 3

Let's continue where I left off in my second post..

Day 6: On this day, we checked out early in the morning and started our journey to Halong Bay. Ha Long Bay (also "Halong Bay") is in northern Vietnam, 170 km (105 mi) east of Hanoi. The bay is UNESCO World Heritage Site and famous for its scenic ocean karst topography and is often included in lists of natural wonders of the world. We booked 2 day and 1 night cruise on Glory Cruise which costed us 230 USD per couple for deluxe rooms with balcony at upper deck. Journey from Hanoi old quarter to Halong Bay was 4-5 hr which was organized by the tour agent and was part of the package. We reached to the cruise terminal around 12 afternoon and were asked to wait in cruise lounge for formalities and boat transfer to the cruise.

Here are small transfer boats,

Here is our cruise,

After safety briefing and check-in we had delicious food,

Next, We were ready for an evening activity which was canoeing or boat trip. I decided to do canoeing with Suresh and rest were more happy with boat trip :)

After the activity we all were back to the boat to relax and leisure. Enjoyed thoroughly swimming in middle of the sea. Evening in Halong Bay was spectacular,

Lovely ladies,

Cheers for the lovely evening,

Day was well spent and all were exhausted so we call it a day without night out :)

Day 7: I've heard lot about Halong Bay sunrise so decided to go on time for some snaps and I was not disappointed at all,

After breakfast we were ready to go for stunning Sung Sot Cave tour. Sung Sot Cave, which means Cave of Surprises, is the biggest and finest cave in Halong Bay. It actually got its name from the French, who called it grotte des surprises, or grotto of surprises. It is located on Bo Hon Island, near the centre of Halong Bay, within the vicinity of other sights such as Titov Island, Bo Nau Grotto, Me Cung Cave and Luun Grotto. There is a small pier where boats dock to allow visitors down. From the pier, a flight of 50 stone steps takes one to the entrance of the cave. The inside of Sung Sot Cave is simply cavernous. At many places the ceiling is low, and takes on a wavy appearance. A profusion of stalactites and stalagmites cover the walls. Here are some shots,
Ha long bay view from Sung Sot Cave

At entrance

Inside cave

After cave tour we return back to the cruise for check-out formalities and headed to Hanoi by 12 PM.We reached Hanoi by 5 PM and decided to spend some time around Hanoi's Hoan Kiem Lake.
Hoan Kiem Lake in the lights

The Huc Bridge, Hoan Kiem Lake

After photo session we hired a green tourist electric car for 100,000 Dong per adult for an hour to drive around the Old Quarter.You can hire them from the north side of Hoan Kiem Lake, opposite the Water Puppet Theater. This was our last activity in Hanoi before starting overnight journey to Sapa.
Let's talk about Sapa in final post of our Vietnam trip :)

A trip to Vietnam from south to north - Part 2

Let's continue where I left off in my first post..

Day 4- We did early morning check-out from Saigon Haromony hotel and depart to Hanoi via VIETJET AIR.

We arrived Hanoi by 12.30 PM and hired a 16 seater taxi for Old Quarter where we had our booking in Hotel Imperial.It was overall smooth ride which took around 40 minutes and costed us 500,000 DONG.Hotel Imperial is in excellent location in Old Quarter and gives easy access to all tourist places,restaurants and shopping. Here is my review on Hotel Imperial on TripAdvisor

After check-in and getting freshen up we were ready for city tour. First destination was beautiful "Temple of Literature" which was built in 1070 at the time of King Lý Nhân Tông.

Our next stop was Trấn Quốc Pagoda, The Trấn Quốc Pagoda in Hanoi is the oldest pagoda in the city, originally constructed in the sixth century during the reign of Emperor Lý Nam Đế (from 544 until 548), thus giving it an age of more than 1,450 years.

After Pagoda we decided to call it a day because most of us were exhausted :)

Day 5- We booked full day Ninh Binh(a.k.a dry Ha Long Bay) tour which costed us 1.1 million Dong per adult. Ninh Binh is the capital city of Ninh Binh Province in North Vietnam, famous for the nearby Karst scenery and the village of Tam Coc located 3 hours drive from Old Quarter. Our first stop was at Hoa Lư - Capital of Vietnam in the 10th and 11th centuries.You can witness beautiful archways and the temples of Dinh Tien Hoang, Nhat Tru Temple and Le Dai Hanh.

After Hoa Lư temple we straight away went for buffet lunch at restaurant in Tam Coc. Afterwards, we were ready for a cycle tour in picturesque, quiet roads through villages, rice fields, rivers and rocky outcrops.

Cycling tour had exhausted us under the hot sun, however it was worth doing.Next was Tam Coc Three caves tour which I would say was highlight of the tour.The Tam Cốc (“three caves”) portion is a three-hour excursion by small boat along the Ngô Đồng River, beginning at the village of Van Lam and proceeding through a scenic landscape dominated by rice fields and karst towers. The route includes floating through three natural caves (Hang Cả, Hang Hai, and Hang Ba), the largest of which is 125m long with its ceiling about 2m high above the water. The boats are typically rowed by one or two local women who also sell embroidered goods.

Some videos of the Ninh Binh cave tour,

After the tour we reached Hanoi by 8 PM and decided to go for famous water puppet show which was 10 minutes walk from our hotel. Ticket was 100,000 Dong per adult and it was good show.Water puppetry is a tradition that dates back as far as the 11th century when it originated in the villages of the Red River Delta area of northern Vietnam. The show is about an hour and is done using wooden puppets controlled from the back. There is a group of musicians that play traditional music along with the show. At times there are narration and dialogue but it is in Vietnamese.

Here is the clip recorded in the water puppet show,


That's it. Short stay of Hanoi was over and next destination was Ha Long Bay and Sapa which I will share in next posts.

(To be continued...)

Next to read : A trip to Vietnam from south to north - Part 3