As a group of eight we are too big for a minibus so travel everywhere in small coaches. Here we stop to look at the rice growing beside the road.
You can take anything on a bike. Here is a chap taking his pigs to market.
We arrive in Halong City in torrential rain, the roads underwater. This is the number one tourist attraction in Vietnam and loads of buses are disgorging tourists who board the flotilla of junks.
Once on board things quieten down and are are treated to the first of several sea food banquets.
Halong Bay is famous for its karst limestone islands - over 3000 in this bay in the gulf of Tongkin.
Our junk slowly makes its way through this mass of now submerged mountain peaks.
After a few hours of cruising we reach the Hang Sung Sot caves, one of several huge cave complexes in one of the islands. We reach the entrance by a steep climb and then walk through several huge chambers before exiting by another cave further along the cliff.
We spend the night tied up in between a cluster of islands and next day make our way back to Halong City. On the way back to Hanoi we see some interestingly decorated houses. This one takes the biscuit.
Click here for our visit to Hue and central Vietnam.
As a group of eight we are too big for a minibus so travel everywhere in small coaches. Here we stop to look at the rice growing beside the road.
We arrive in Halong City in torrential rain, the roads underwater. This is the number one tourist attraction in Vietnam and loads of buses are disgorging tourists who board the flotilla of junks.
Halong Bay is famous for its karst limestone islands - over 3000 in this bay in the gulf of Tongkin.
After a few hours of cruising we reach the Hang Sung Sot caves, one of several huge cave complexes in one of the islands. We reach the entrance by a steep climb and then walk through several huge chambers before exiting by another cave further along the cliff.
We spend the night tied up in between a cluster of islands and next day make our way back to Halong City. On the way back to Hanoi we see some interestingly decorated houses. This one takes the biscuit.