Halong Bay and Hoi an 3rd Dec to 8th Dec

Tues 3rd Dec Hanoi

Notes from Liz's diary

Through our Hotel we booked a three day trip to the scenic bay of karsts where we had one night on a wooden junk and a second night on Cat Ba island in a bunglalow on the beach. It is a very popular tourist trip and we had reservations about doing this but arriving at the port on a warm sunny day we were not disappointed, the scenery was spectacular.

Anchored for the night

The port was a sea of wooden junks, lined up along the quay and many others including ours anchored off shore. Lunch, served as we set sail, was a stream of various stir fried dishes, vegetables, meats and seafood. The many tourist junks dispersed as they crossed the bay only to converge again at the various tourist spots - limestone caves, pearl farm, island beach, kayak place. We were kept very busy and entertained right up to the evening when the attempt to engage our group in karaoke thankfully failed! we could then enjoy being at sea under the stars. On the second day a small group of us transferred to a smaller boat for our trip to Cat Ba island part of which is a nature reserve. In many ways this journey was the highlight of the trip with spectacular scenery as we travel between islands along the coast. We passed floating villages - floating platforms with huts and houses on them tied together for the fishing community.

We stopped at one end of Cat Ba island for a cycle ride to a village inland, passing through lush valleys and across open land of rice fields with water buffalo, birds, flowers and showers of butterflies. We were then deposited on a small beach resort for the night where we stayed in a wooden and straw bungalow over looking the beach and rock karst islands. That night we joined fellow travellers in sitting round a fire on the beach and looking at the stars. Back on the small boat the next morning we sailed passed the islands again this time accompanied by the incessant drone of a young English traveller keen to let us all hear about his travels through South East Asia and more.

Floating village

Thursday 5th Dec

Back to Hanoi and then a bouncing swaying night train to Da nang, approx 850 ks down the coast. This train had enoukgh movement to make the young guy sharing our compartment seasick. The last part of the train journey we snaked through jungle on the side of a mountain and peered down at the sea.

Hoi an our desination, had been flooded only weeks before, a common event it seems each year. We were shown the flood marks on several buildings where it had reached to the top of the first floors but all cleared away now, in previous years the flooding had sometimes been even higher.

Our hotel is set in a fertile garden of palm and hibiscus, a welcome place to relax in. Hoi an is an old town with many houses of Japanese and Chinese merchants set around the port. A fun place to cycle in and tricky at crossings when nobody stops!

We took a trip to My Son, site of an ancient Cham civilisation, about 30 k away with an entertaining guide, but who knew nothing about the ruins A quick search on the spot helped fill the gaps.

Sunday 8th Dec Night train back to Hanoi, followed by second night train back over the border to China, this time sharing compartment with an interesting chatty Brit on a world tour, mostly on land.