My Vietnam Trip (Part 2)

More on our Halong Bay cruise in this post…

After a 15 min break (refer to my previous post to catch up), we went to another bay area which has a beachfront.. We were all very shocked to see people SWIMMING, when it was so COLD!?! Anyway, we proceeded to climb the 400+ steps to go to the top (according to the guide, the view’s worth the effort). Unfortunately, due to my very bad or lack of fitness, I only managed to climb midway. Kel was so upset with me! He started his, “I told you to jog with me regularly right..” before continuing the rest of the climb with Weiqiang.. HAHAHA! Anyway, the view midway is also quite pretty (i refuse to think otherwise)

Before long, it grew dark and we headed back to the cruise..

Before dinner, we had a simple cooking class which taught us how to make Viet spring rolls.

I happily volunteer Weiqiang and Jess to try it out!

 

Jess trying out her own cooking!

Dinner was very pleasant and we finally ordered WINE!

That very much concluded our full day of cruise program. We went back to the cabin and had a really good night’s rest! =)

Day 3: Halong Bay – Hanoi

The next morning, we explored the top deck of the cruise and managed to take a pic of the sails!

Then we sat on a rowing boat to visit a lagoon nearby.. very tranquil =)

Our cruise! With all its sails up!

And then… we went back to Hanoi after a sumptuous buffet lunch on the cruise… All of us wished we stayed longer on the cruise!

Back at Hanoi, we got tickets to watch the famous water puppets show…

… and also walked around since weekends at Hanoi old quarters means NIGHT MARKET! Kel & I bought a painting!

Day 4: Hanoi – Dalat

Before we left Hanoi, we got the tour guide and driver to bring us around.. and did the usual tourist thing; visited museums, museums, museums..

Started the day early at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and it was COLD…

 

Our tour guide patiently explaining to us the history.. and Weiqiang asked the most questions (making the most out of his tour guide fees?!?)

We were not allowed to take photos in the mausoleum, so only pics of the outside available.

Next we visited Ho Chi Minh’s residences… all very well maintained and preserved.

The cars he used..

 

His house on stilts…

The very nice surroundings…

Then we moved on to Ho Chi Minh’s museum..

 

I’m not exactly a history-hungry, relics-loving kind of girl.. So at this point, frankly, I was getting bored but thank God, the next museum is really interesting: Vietnamese Museum of Ethnology!

an outdoor water puppet show…

This museum has real-life houses of the various minority groups in Vietnam..

This one requires a bit of a climb..

My fav long house!

This is the one that can be found in our tour guide’s hometown =) So naturally we spent more time inside.

Kitchen and common area..

The upper deck..

Bedroom and what I’m guessing is a toilet..

Outdoor shed?

 

Another one!

And another one!

Had lunch at a pretty, HUGE restaurant before saying bye to Hanoi and our wonderful guide, Ngoc =)

We are off to Dalat! More on that in my next post! =)