Day 03 - Saturday 2nd September

Today we would be leaving the Sofitel Hotel in Hanoi and travelling to Halong Bay where we will be staying overnight on a boat. Insider Journeys were due to pick us up at 8am again and so I set the alarm for 5:45am.

This time, we went to the French dining room in the old wing of the hotel for breakfast. Tony and Michelle were already there. They are due to be picked up at 7:30 for their transfer to Halong Bay. They’ve booked a vehicle together with Rob and Ulli.

We enjoyed the breakfast. Although the food was similar to the Vietnamese restaurant in our wing, there seemed to be more choice. It was spacious and elegant. I got them to cook me a couple of poached eggs.

We’d arranged to leave our big bags at the Sofitel Hotel overnight because we would be back here again tomorrow night for three more nights. Luckily a porter was waiting outside our room to take our bags. Quong (the same driver from Insider Journeys) was in the reception foyer waiting for us at 8am.

The traffic was heavy with cars and motor bikes everywhere. As usual, they were travelling very close and doing all sorts of strange manoeuvres – with plenty of sounding of horns. It is obviously important for drivers to stay alert.

Eventually we reached an expressway where the traffic flowed a little more smoothly. Interestingly the speed limit was different on each of the three lanes – 90km/h, 70km/h, 50km/h. From time to time, some vehicles would stay in their lanes.

As you might expect, the traffic started to ease somewhat the further we got away from Hanoi. Quong said the traffic was heavier than normal because it was a long weekend for the national holiday. Lots of workers were heading home for the weekend. Today was the national day and Monday was the public holiday.

In the rural areas, we passed by agricultural areas where they were growing crops such as rice. We even saw a few cattle who had wandered onto the motorway - thereby providing even more hazards for the traffic.

At about 10am, we stopped at a shopping complex for a half hour break. This was another outlet selling goods made by disabled people. This one was much bigger than the one we stopped at yesterday on our tour of Hanoi.

Quong had provided music for us on his mobile phone. He was busy on his phone sending messages and taking photos while still managing to dodge in and out of the traffic. Occasionally he would do a search to translate words so he could communicate better with us.

There were a few light showers along the way. However most of the dark clouds seemed to be behind us with blue sky in front of us.

We reached Halong Bay at 12 noon. Rob, Ulli, Tony and Michelle were already there. They were sitting at a table drinking beer.

The boat (Jasmine Cruises from Heritage Lines) left on time at 12:30pm. We went upstairs for an introductory talk including safety information. Then we were free to go to our room. We are on level 2 whereas the others are on level 1.

Next we went up on deck to admire the view. And what a fabulous view it was. As we sailed along the bay, the scenery was forever changing. The harbour is dotted with dramatic rocky outcrops rising steeply out of the water. There were dozens and dozens of ships out on the bay.

Lunch was served at 1:30pm. It was a buffet with a good selection of meats (chicken, pork, fish), salads, bread, etc. I tried the Hanoi beer again but decided to switch to red wine. I don’t think I’ll bother with the Hanoi beer in future.

After lunch we went back outside on deck to admire the view and take more photos. There was no shortage of photo opportunities.

At 3:30pm, we left the ship to go on the afternoon excursion. They put us on a couple of smaller boats and told us we had to wear life jackets. The first destination was a floating fishing village.

When we reached the village, we were transferred to smaller boats suitable for up to 6 passengers. Each boat was driven by a Vietnamese person in traditional dress. They even provided traditional conical straw hats for each of the passengers.

She rowed us around the lake so we could see the various places in the fishing village. Many of them were family groups with small children. Quite a few of them had pet dogs. A couple of enterprising people rowed boats filled with supplies. They were like well-stocked floating grocery shops.

Next we got back on the Jasmine's tenders to visit a limestone cave called Hang Tien Ong. It is referred to as the fairy cave. We were back on the Jasmine cruiser by 5:15pm.

Suzy attended a cooking class at 5:45pm while I took photos of the sunset. I was a bit disappointed that the sunset wasn't more colourful. But I needed have worried because, about 20 minutes later, the clouds had changed to spectacular red display.

The six of us enjoyed a pre-dinner drink in the open air on the deck near the dining area. It was still hot and humid. The temperature seems to be steady all day - about 31C in the morning and afternoon. Overnight it only drops by between one and five degrees.

As we sat there, they started to cook a barbecue for dinner - chicken, fish, pork and prawns. Dinner was served at 7:30pm.

At 9pm, there a short talk giving some history of Halong Bay. By that time, we were very tired and were ready for bed.