South East Asia 2019: 19th / 20th May - Hanoi to Halong Bay and back

We leave at 8am for Halong Bay. Even this early there are lots of bikes. It is a 3 and a half hour drive with a stop along the way. The stop is at a large roadside shop that specialises in cotton / silk embroidery, plus room after room of every other type of craft available from scarves to marble fountains. A diverse range of items to satisfy any discerning shopper!!!!

We pass through villages and towns of various sizes, plus field after field of rice paddies, plus a few other crops.

When we arrive Halong Bay we are first taken to the Pearl Shop. We are given a talk on how they implant seeds to make the pearls and how they grade the pearls when developed. We are then led into the shop where pearls abound, made into pendants, necklaces, bracelets, hair pieces and rings. There are white, yellow and black pearls of various sizes set in silver, white gold and gold. It is hard to take it all in. Overall they are very reasonably priced and maybe a necklace may find it's way home.

After the pearls we make our way to where we pick up the boat. A tender arrives and we are transported to our "liner". There are so mannnnnnny boats, up to 80 we are told because it is low season but this can swell to 500 in high season. We alight our tender, have a welcome drink and then find our way to our cabins. Our boat has 12 cabins and we have 11 booked so we are the only group. The members of our group that took the upgraded accommodation option are not with us and we do not cross paths. Will be interested to hear about their adventure next time we meet.

Lunch is served as we leave the harbour and head towards our overnight spot. A lonesome spot it won't be. There are 40 or so other overnight boats also anchored in the vicinity. Most of the group try to go to have a look at a cave and then have a swim from the island. Alas there are a 100+ other people also doing the same thing. What would this place be like in high season????!!!! On their return there is some down time, then dinner and a few songs of Karaoke. Early night!

Next morning, early breakfast and then an option to walk to another cave. The description of the walk and 700 steps puts us off. People return and say that the actual walk and description are far apart! We then have an early lunch as we head into the harbour to meet our bus to take us back to Hanoi. We stop at a similar roadside stop just on the other side of the road. A good 2 days. Could have done with some more exploring but the boats are limited to set routes and what we did is all they are allowed to do.

Dinner was at a suggested restaurant which had one dish, a fish dish with noodles that you cook yourself at the table. Yummy food, but it is a warm night and it does eventually rain. We have arrived home in plenty of time!