The highlight of our trip to Vietnam was sailing the emerald waters, past the many towering limestone rocks, around UNESCO World Heritage Site Ha Long Bay and the less travelled Lan Ha Bay, with its more isolated appeal.
Activities included kayaking through the narrow lanes of the karst mountains to fishing villages on the water and through a tunnel grotto to a lagoon, hiking in particularly mountainous Cát Bà National Park, learning how to make Vietnamese rice paper spring rolls, a bicycle trip to Viet Hai village located in a valley of the Cát Bà National Park, taking in the beautiful sunsets on the top deck of the boat and viewing stunning sunrises from the comfort of your bed.
We booked a 3 day 2 night cruise with Vega Travel, who are one of the tour companies recommended in the Lonely Planet guide. They were excellent and well deserving of the mention in the guide book. It was a fantastic mini cruise and even temporary blindness(!) from an adverse reaction to some anti sickness tablets couldn’t burst my buzz! I may have looked a little high, with my dilated pupils, I might have knocked over a glass shortly after boarding the cruise as I simply couldn’t see it and my sister may have had to read menus and phone messages for me, but it was one of the best travel experiences I have had. We met some great people on board too, who really made our time there extra special.
And no, I didn’t try any of that Vietnamese snake rice wine, delicious as it looked…
