Vietnam - Halong Bay

After hours of searching around Hanoi for a 'good' deal on a 2 day trip to Halong Bay, we were just more confused. Many 'travel agencies' here copy names from reputable agents, which are no longer distinguishable, making life very confusing, as you don't know who to trust (Sihn Cafe, Sihn Cafe Travel, Sihn Travel, etc.). In the end, we still paid too much from our hotel, but it was a very nice trip. The islands of Halong Bay are breathtaking - they are just like the limestone mountains of Guiling/Yangshou!! We got to go swimming and kayaking around in the warm water (which is not at all refreshing when you just want a cold shower), see a cave and sleep on the boat. We also had a good time hanging out with the lot of Brit and Aussie backpackers on the boat with us.

When we arrived back in Ha Noi, we found out that our old Hotel was now full, and we couldn'd find another place that was as cheap or as nice...we complained (also about paying too much for the tour, which we had booked through them). After trying to show us to a few other close places which weren't as nice and charging more. They finally gave in, and took us to a 'friend's' hotel which is very nice, and are paying for the room! (We get to save us$8!!). And the room has a hair dryer and a real tub-shower!! We were extremely excited to see this. Although it's gushing rain outside, so the hair dryer won't be very helpful.

Now, we have a couple days in Ha Noi, unfotunately due to some poor planning our part - all of the museums are closed today (i.e. no embalmed Ho Chi Mihn can be seen). Hopefully we can get to them tomorrow morning and then set off on a ~30 hour bus ride to Laos (which is supposed to be horrible, yay).

Well it's back to research, one of the exhausting parts of traveling on a tight schedule & budget, but also exciting.

I would love to hear from anyone reading this - what/how are you doing??

Loves & misses.
Chúc ngú ngon (Good Night)