Just back from a 5 day trip to Halong Bay and what a place….. Even with all the good reports we heard before going we did not expect how nice the bay would be.

We arrived in the Bay on Thursday after a 3 hour drive from Hanoi and we were told that we would have a boat to ourselves. We were very suprised to see that the boat was an 80 foot boat (called a Vietnamese junk boat) with crew of six to look after us. It was amazing and already had far surpassed anything that we had expected. We were then taken out into Halong Bay and once we reached the first set of islands we were served up a 5 course monster lunch. It started with crab (amazing) and included a plate of prawns, a plate of squid, an entire fish, orange pork, rice, clams, seaweed(suprisingly nice) and despite the amount of food we managed to have a bash of everything!!!!! We then went for a tour around some caves and a swim and a walk around one of the smaller islands. After a dinner to match the earlier lunch that night we sat out on the deck and relaxed after the busy day(its a tough life!!!!!!)

The following day we woke and after breakfast we relectantly transfered to another boat to head to Paradise island, about two hours away.  Once we arrived in Paradise Island we were delighted to find a secluded beach (i mean 6 huts and a bar/restaurant and that was it….)  and spent the rest of the day swimming, sunbathing, Kayaking etc. If you go to the flickr pics you will see what the beach was like (i will try to put a few pics on the site for those of you whose access is restricted by work etc.).  That night was something of an experience as the walls were made from wicker and you could hear EVERYTHING!!!! Cockroaches scuttling around, insects screeching, ants crawling on the mosquito net, Claire probably got about an hours sleep in total that night…..

After that it was time to leave Paradise island and we made our way back to Halong bay were we stayed a further 2 nights to see a bit more of the bay. It was lovely to see the little village on the coast but in truth one night probably would have been enough.

If anyone finds them self in hanoi and even has a day to spare, make your way out to Halong Bay as it has been one of the highlights of the trip for us so far.

Tomorrow we are off to Cuc Phong National Park to see some of the local wildlife and will be spending the night there (maybe they will decide to keep us!).

Will post again when we get back.

See ya

Conor