Halong Bay
Fourth day in Vietnam now and if I was asked to summarize it in few words it would be: mopeds, coffee and cheap food. I could make a whole post about the coffee and food aspect of Vietnam, but I believe that Halong Bay is a more interesting topic for you to read about.Â
According to our original plan we were going to spend two nights in Halong Bay and to explore it thoroughly. However it turned out to be impossible to get a decent transportation to there, so we decided to book a day trip through our hotel instead. The cost was about 40 USD and we got transportation and a boat trip with lunch, stop in a cool cave and kayaking in the Halong Bay archipelago.Â
Hanoi is quite flat and because of the thousands of mopeds driving pass you every day, the air is also quite bad. So when you get to the destination you really appreciate the views and the fresh air. Since it wasnât really the right season for cruising around with a boat (still very pleasant though) we felt that 5 hours there was enough. Another option could have been to spend one night on the boat which I would imagine being nice too if you arenât as impatient travelers as we are.
I wish that Halong Bay was a bit closer to Hanoi (150 km one way took us 4 hours) and we ended up sitting in the bus for most of the day. I guarantee that the bus experience is not relaxing. What I learned during that trip is that red lights are just a suggestion to stop, roundabouts donât have one driving direction and there isnât really such a thing as the middle line that separates the two sides of the road. To summarize: the more you break the traffic rules, the better.












