Vietnam: Halong Bay & Hanoi

After being picked up by luxury coach in Ninh Binh, we arrived in Halong Bay about 4 hours later. Definitely the most touristy part of our trip, we still enjoyed the beauty of the area, followed by the hustle and bustle of Hanoi.

We opted for a bit of a higher end cruise rather than a "junk" boat that most people go on, as we thought it would be better suited for the girls. There was even a little pool that Emmeline enjoyed, and those bath views weren't too bad either! :)

 

 


We got quite lucky with the weather in Halong Bay. It's often quite cloudy, gray, and rainy, and while our first day was cloudy, after that the sun came out, and it was beautiful! We made some stops at a fishing village, a cliff hike, and had lunch on a beach one day. All very beautiful, but this was definitely the hardest part of the trip: having a schedule. It meant that there were often very tired girls on our hands, but we tried to make of the most of it.

 

 

 

One afternoon, Nick went kayaking on his own since everyone else was sleeping. Dinner was always at 7pm, which meant we never quite finished it, as Corabelle was always losing it by the end. This did mean we enjoyed some sunsets, and games on the sundeck before dinner, though. After dinner was squid fishing, which Emmeline thoroughly enjoyed even though she never caught any. Some other people on the boat did, though!

 

 

We chose the 2 night cruise into Bai Tu Long Bay, which is less crowded than Halong Bay, but just as beautiful. I'm so glad we did this, because even there we certainly saw other boats from time to time, especially at night when we were anchored. The morning we came back to port, there was just a long line of boats one after another, so I can only imagine this is how Halong Bay is all the time.

On our drive back to Hanoi, we stopped for a water puppet show, which is a popular, traditional art form in Vietnam. Emmeline and Corabelle really enjoyed it, but it was really only entertaining for about 5 minutes. It reminded me of the guinguette puppet show in Paris, except that one actually told a story.

 



We weren't quite sure what to expect from Hanoi. We heard that it was chaotic with motorbikes, and some people said dirty, but we were pleasantly surprised. Yes, the motorbikes are everywhere and you literally just have to walk out into traffic to cross the road, but you get used to that pretty quickly. Even though there are quite a few tourists in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, we really liked the feel and energy of the city. It had kind of a fun feel, with the old French architecture mixed with concrete Vietnamese architecture. It felt like a very lived in city, unlike Hoi An, and you saw locals selling vegetables, meat, fruit, etc. on almost every corner. The alleyways were some of my favorite places to wander around.

 

 

 

The lake area is traffic-free on the weekend, so we enjoyed wandering around there too, and catching glimpses of teenage dance groups perfecting their dances. The cathedral was filled with locals celebrating Easter Sunday when we walked by. Hanoi is also known for its coffee and cafes, many of which are found by entering a shop and walking up a back, pretty sketchy staircase. We tried both egg coffee and coconut coffee on this trip. Both sound gross, but they are excellent! The egg is whipped on top and you mix it into your coffee. The coconut coffee includes a shaved coconut ice on top. Yum yum!

 

 

Speaking of coffee and food, we had our fair share of yummy food on this trip. Turns out the girls aren't as big of fans of Vietnamese as we might have thought, so we did have a fair share of Western food too, including one of the best steak dinners we've ever had. From Anthony Bourdain's favorite bahn mi in Hoi An to local pho in Hanoi, it was all delicious! Cora loves spring rolls it turns out, and Emmeline and I learned how to make them on the boat in Halong Bay, so those may become a regular in our house!