Halong Bay

The next morning we once again rose early; pick up at 8 am. This time we were off to Halong Bay.

Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site about 3 hours drive south east of Hanoi. 

We had decided that a site like this needed to be visited properly and we therefore organized a private trip for just the two of us, Steve assured me that sharing a moment like this was not something one should do with 50 Chinese persons taking photos by your side. 

So at 8 am, our private car, with private driver and private French speaking guide (Kong), off we were!

Even on a private tour, we got to visit some of the "tourist traps", but I must give credit to Kong for the toilets were 10 time nicer than in a Parisian bistro, so I'd say it was worth the while.^^

During our drive, Kong taught us plenty of things about Vietnam, we still had quite some unanswered questions since Vinh, and he had the answer to almost all of them, and in a very good French, especially for someone who has never been outside the country once!

When arrived in the city of Halong, the harbor was filled with tourist from all over the world, waiting in groups to get onto their boats, and I was more than happy that we had decided to do this tour on our own.

It took us some time to get out of the harbor, since there were almost as many boats as people on the shore.

Our captain slowly navigating through the crowd of boats to get out of the harbor.