Hanoi and Halong Bay

Thursday we flew from Luang Prabang, Laos to Hanoi, Vietnam. Much cooler temps awaited us as well as a light sprinkle, quite a change from the 95 degree heat in Laos. We found a great little hotel right next to the St. Joseph's Cathedral, where by the way, there was a five day long funeral ceremony for the just deceased Bishop of Vietnam. So the roads were total chaos, and from our room we could hear all the singing and eulogies piped out from loudspeakers on the streets. It was quite a scene. We were lucky with our hotel, the owner was Australian and he was able to book us our two day cruise on Halong Bay, as well as the train trip to Sapa. Both trips I had left open.
So the next day at 8am we were already picked up for the 3hr. drive to the Bay, where we boarded a nice old wooden Junk and settled into quite a nice state room. We set off into the Bay, which is part of the Tonkin Sea. It is about 606 suare miles and consists of more then 700 islands, mostly uninhabited. We sailed amongst the steep lime stone outcroppings, called Karsts, which was quite stunning. There are dozens of these cruise junks doing the same thing, but the bay being so big, that you never felt crowded. We also stopped at some huge caves as well as went from some sea kayaking, which we enjoyed a lot. Another scrumptious seafood dinner followed on deck as well as a refresing swimm off the ankered boat. We were only 15 passengers, and met some really nice fellow travelers. The next morning we leasurely sailed back to port and got off at noon.
That same night we took a night train ( 9 hrs. ) up to Sapa in the hill tribe country near the Chinese border. More about that next time!