Vietnam Diaries (Halong Bay & Ninh Binh province)

- May 13, 2019

Though it's a continuation of my previous post about the Vietnam trip, I decided to talk a little about the day I landed and the weather. A very dear friend, Mr. R, was kind enough to give me feedback on my last post and said I could have included a few more details. So here it goes!

We landed in Noi Bai airport and headed to the visa counter, which is on the opposite side of immigration. We had done our homework and hence, we just had to submit the visa application forms with a photo attached for each person. Then, we were expected to wait for the visa to be stamped on the passport. There were sofas to sit and wait patiently. The immigration officers were neither friendly nor rude. Our photo is flashed on the TV screen when the visa is ready and since mine was flashed for our group of 5, I felt like a TV star!

If you want to know the cost of the visa and accompanying documents, ask me in the comments!

The dress code of the female airport staff were elegant. It was very similar to the long kurta-pyjama attire in Punjab, India. Plain color kurta with white flared pants.

We had reached around 4.30 pm and bought ourselves a chicken Mayo sandiwch from the cafe at the airport as we were starving after the long journey. It was sooooo good that we made a note of the place to have the same sandwich when we return to the airport for departure.

The weather was cloudy and pleasant, very different from the hot & humid climate in Singapore. But this joy lasted only for a day. The remaining 4 days in Hanoi was hot, hot and hot.

Our hotel was a small and cosy place, right in the middle of a crowded street in Old quarter. We had booked a family room for the 5 of us. Nothing fancy, but it had a small balcony overlooking the busy street. We had booked it for a night, as we were off to Halong Bay for an overnight stay in a cruise the next day. The same room was booked after our return to Hanoi 2 days later. The breakfast was local cuisine and decent. The only twist in the story was that we were informed the floor in which our room was located lost power and hence, they were shifting us to another hotel nearby. We were 95% convinced that the hotel manager got new guests at a higher price and wanted to accommodate them. This is the general feeling we got after spending a couple of days in Vietnam. If you are not cautious and act like a typical tourist, they will take advantage of you.

Halong Bay-

Halong Bay was introduced to me by a friend I made during a ladies night event at a Lounge in Singapore. I asked her the 3 places that topped her list to visit in South East Asia and bang- Halong Bay happened! Thank you Miss J! You know who you are :)

I feel so blessed to have made the decision to visit Halong Bay and stay in a cruise overnight. We chose to ride from Hanoi to Halong Bay in a 5* Limo van, which was very comfortable. After reaching, we were taken to the anchored ship in a ferry. We were always greeted onto the ship with welcome drinks. The breakfast, dinner and lunch spreads were delicious and filling. The view from our room (with balcony), the sun deck and other parts of the ship were fabulous. The cruise had arranged different activities like kayaking and caves. It was a good climb up 100 steps to enter the caves. It was dark and cold inside and we also encountered the fossil of two crocodiles. We did a fine job kayaking for the first time and it was fun watching non-first timers topple and fall into the water :D

I have to tell you about two guys we made friends with- Francesco and Mauri (from Spain). We were waiting for our turn to get into the Kayak boat (as only 2 people were allowed in each). F & M were sending everyone off with a lot of motivation and F mentioned his job involved taking care of senior people, who needed assistance with tasks. He was very concerned about an old couple who boarded the kayak ahead of us and requested them to take extreme care while rowing in the water. 40 minutes into the Kayaking exercise, we saw that F & M had gone very far into the lake and we were remarking about how good they were at it. A few minutes later, we saw their boat upside down and 2 heads floating in the lake. A lifeguard had to go with his motor boat to save and help them get back. So much for confidence!

Some other activities that were arranged by the cruise were visiting caves and a Tai chi session during sunrise. The cruise had a delicious BBQ buffet spread for dinner and a happy hour for the beer and drinks. The sunset was amazing with the other cruise ships in the backdrop, all beautifully lit for the night. We forced ourselves to wake up at 6 am for the Tai Chi. It was a lot of slow moves and lifts, which was the Chinese form of workout done by monks. The coach made us do a 1:1 move, which was like having our entire back hit continuously with the hands of the person standing behind (almost like chopping). That was a lot of fun!

Ninh Binh-

It was a province which was around 2.5 hours from Hanoi. We took an adhoc tour package from one of many tour operators in the city. It included a visit to the largest Pagoda, a boat ride with manual oars and going through 4 underwater caves plus a visit to the King Kong island (where the movie was shot). It was a day well spent, though we weren't completely happy with all the services and the explanation of the tour guide. It could have been better.