A traveller's reflection: 2015 Vietnam Ride: 07 Ha Long Bay

My Travel Journal

"There isn't much I haven't shared with you along the road and through it all there'd always be tomorrow's episode" - Elton John

I started traveling around the world since early 80s when I had the opportunity to combine business trips with vacations. Then later when my rezeki is in abundance, there were numerous other trips along the way for vacations, most of the time with hubby and the kids when the timing is right. I have also started to compile the journal and photo-pages covering almost more than 45 years of world wide travel. Some destinations I visited just once, others many times. Many of those places are the obvious famous places people would like to visit but some, the casual traveler doesn't even think to try. I have placed links to my travel at the side bar of my personal page, My Life Reflections, and will be updating them from time to time.

My wish is to continue my travel and complete circumnavigate the globe, insyaAllah…

Thursday, 26 November 2015

2015 Vietnam Ride: 07 Ha Long Bay

“Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs..." - Susan Sontag

(The bikers gang at Ha Long Bay)

Day 07: Ha Long Bay day trip
Date: Thursday, 26 November 2015
Distance: 170 km

We had breakfast in the hotel while waiting for the tour bus to pick us up. This morning we are going for a day trip to Ha Long Bay. The 170 km journey to Ha Long Bay took us more than three hours with a short break half way.

(A welcoming signage to the bay)

(Arriving at the Pier in Ha Long)

(On a boat cruise)

(Waiting for lunch to be served)

(The weather is cool and windy)

(A spread of seafood dishes, delicious!)

Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site featuring thousands of limestone karsts and isles of various sizes and shapes. From the jetty we embarked on a boat cruise and were immediately served with seafood lunch while enjoying the beautiful limestone seascape.

(Our cruise boat, the White Dragon 11)

(Many similar boats cruising the bay)

(Arriving at an island with a beautiful grotto)

(Beautifully lighted and clean)

(Stalactites and stalagmites formations)

(View from the cave's entrance)

After we visited the beautiful Dau Go Cave, cruise further to a the fishermen floating village where one can go for kayaking or hire a bamboo boat for small fee.

(The cruise boats docking at the jetty)

(An iconic island used in the Vietnamese Dong note)

(Kayaking activities around the jetty)

(Houseboats with rooms and amenities)

(Bamboo boats for hire)

(Getting ready to cruise back to mainland)

(Leaving the beautiful seascape)

We took the same route back to Hanoi and reached our hotel around 20:00hrs. While others went for a last minute shopping, we had dinner at Little India then later went for an hour of foot massage.

*****

Day 08: Hanoi – KL
Date: Friday, 27 November 2015

We had breakfast in the hotel and checked out early. We had to take two taxis to Hanoi International Airport to catch our 09:00hrs flight to Kuala Lumpur.