27 July 2013 - Vietnam Day 3

Look at this. I woke up the next morning thinking I was in heaven. 

Located within the Quang Ninh province, Halong Bay includes some 1600 islands and islets, forming a seascape of limestone pillars. Due to the beautiful geographic work of art, Halong Bay has become a high tourism area.

Of course, being tourists who were there on our last day, we couldn't help but to snap as many pictures as we could. Here's a picture of me and the little girl from Beijing..

My tour guide and I..

and many more pictures of the four of us..

.. before we officially and reluctantly bade our cruise good bye.

Thanks Golden Lotus for the wonderful stay provided! =)

We returned to Hanoi again after that for our last evening spent in Vietnam. That evening, we had the opportunity to visit the St Joseph's Cathedral which is located within the Old Quarter.

Opened in 1886, the St Joseph's Cathedral is the oldest church in Hanoi and it was built in a Gothic Revival style. Also, it was known simply as the "Big Church" among the locals there.

The main gate at the cathedral is usually closed unless the mass is going on. So happened when we were there that evening, the gate was opened, so we had the chance to witness the mass for a short while.

How majestic.

Since we decided to go Spanish for dinner that night, we headed to La Salsa, which is located just opposite to the St Joseph's Cathedral.

Well in my point of view, La Salsa is pretty worth a visit as it offers warm hospitality and quality cuisine. The contemporary interior of La Salsa seems to have a subtle mix between French and Spanish style, with a bar on its ground floor serving a wide variety of beer and wines. Among our orders that night were -

All of which tasted pleasant to me. Also, since it was Kwan's birthday that day, with some help from the staff, we managed to give him a little surprise =)

Thanks La Salsa for providing us such a great evening.

Our last activity in the itinerary was to visit the Hanoi night market (with plenty of street side stalls) to hunt for souvenirs and gifts for people at home. After which, we headed back to our hostel to call it a day.

My last cuppa Vietnamese coffee before I left Vietnam on the next day.

Overall, I think Vietnam is a beautiful place to visit especially for people who are drawn easily to quaint historic area. The beautiful scenery featuring from beaches to mountains to rice paddies and the fascinating cities would give the country a net positive on why one should visit it. That said, Vietnam can be difficult, for its scams are quite prevalent in Hanoi (we experienced it once, but you can always read more about it in the net). Ladies who intend to visit on their own should be extra cautious.

My advice? Give Vietnam a chance. Go, preferably with a group of mixed gender. Just keep your eyes open at all times, and you'll find Vietnam an enormously important country to visit for its cultural and historical context.

26 July 2013 - Vietnam Day 2 at Halong Bay

What welcomed us on the next day, was our first cruising experience at Halong Bay.

Even though it took us about 4 hours to get there from Hanoi, it was well worth it. You'll see why later on.

Throughout our cruising experience, we were fortunate enough to be part of a tour group with tourists hailing from random parts of the world - Australia, London, USA, China and Vietnam itself. They were really friendly. Even though we seemed like the most anti-social group of Asians there (can I blame it on our culture?), they still made an effort to get to know us, talked to us, shared their life experience with us etc. I wonder how and when can I be as outgoing as the westerners.. =S

The moment we got on the ship, we were welcomed by the Golden Lotus crew members who seemed really polite and nice. Lunch was served not too long after that to make sure we had sufficient energy for the activities lying ahead =)

First activity of the day was our exploration to the Song Sot Cave (also known as Surprise Cave) which is located in the Bo Hon Island.

That's our tour guide giving us a brief explanation on the history of the cave.

Discovered in 1901, Surprise Cave has three chambers which were used by Viet Cong as a hideout during the Vietnam War. As can be seen in pictures above (and below), inside the cave were numerous naturally created pillars, stalactites and stalagmites, with lighting subtly illuminating the formations.

Of course, for visitors with imaginative minds, the cave could be seen as a big theater with different settings. Whether is it an object, an animal or new universe all together, the spectacular work of Mother Nature would make anybody's visit there worthwhile.

A group picture before we left one natural treasure to another - the Titop Island.

Titop Island is regarded as one of the most attractive sites for tourists. Among the (unforgettable) activities we did there was climbing all the way up to the peak of the island to witness the 360 degrees breath taking view of Halong Bay.

Though small, Titop Island certainly wins kudos for its beautiful landscape, don't you think so?

All the sweat you see in us are the result of strenuous climbing. Being lame in sports (as always!), the climb almost took half my life away lol. Nevertheless, the heavenly view sure was worth the effort poured. =)

After monkeying around for a while, we then headed back down to the beach.

The beach however, was pretty disappointing (no offence! Just my point of view). Not only was the entire beach flooded with people, everything there was so commercialized even getting a seat on the deckchair required money. Apart from that, we also realized that part of the beach actually smelled of urea. sigh! and they say Titop is famous for its clean water, fresh air and smooth white sand. I'd say.. I was disappointed.

=(

After our visit to the island, we got back to our cruise. A cooking class was held for us to make a Vietnamese cuisine (I forgot what is it called)..

After which, of course.. dinner was served!

Dinner that night was better than what we expected from the crew. Not only were the food nicely cooked, they were also decorated in sophistication. Good food, nice wine and a bunch of great company - what else could one expect from a perfect dinner during vacation? =)

After dinner, we then took a walk on top of our cruise only to be mesmerized even more by the spectacular view of the seascape.

Instead of joining the rest for fishing that evening, we decided to just spend a couple of hours listening to music, witnessing the natural scenic beauty, and indulge in relaxing ourselves on the deckchairs provided..

After that, of course, we returned to our cabin to have our first overnight experience spent in a cruise. Hehe!

Day 2 in Vietnam was, in general a more adventurous yet relaxing experience. The majestic natural scenery and the luxurious cruising experience literally allowed us to put our feet up high whilst enjoying the marvelous work of Mother Nature.

What an experience, really.