I've seen many scooter accidents while here in Vietnam. None of them have been too serious from what I could see. The bikes can't go very fast and there is usually heavy traffic which makes serious accidents hard to come by. I have been on several motor bike taxi, but only once did I actually feel scared.

On this day I saw a biker (or actually a scooterer) run into a van that had stopped in the middle of the road waiting to turn left. The scooter guy was really pissed off, but it was his own inattention that caused the crash. The handle of the scooter and the bumper of the van were both ruined.

The next day I saw a headon collision of two scooters. One of the guys was a delivery man with several boxes of beer bottles on his scooter. Both guys stood in the middle of the road to yell at the other for about 15 minutes. All the beer poured out unto the street. It was Tiger beer.

I've also seen the many people laying on the road under their scooter as a results of a crash that I had just missed seeing. Once there was a man sprawlled out on the pavement yelling in pain as his friend/driver or passenger ran around trying to pick their things up from flying around the street. Most the mishaps seem to occur on country roads when there is less traffic.

Worth the trip outright. This place was plain amazing. Beautiful green landscapes and unspoiled.

Lunch on the boat was great and the room was fantastic - bed and bathroom to boot.

We took kayaks out to the caves and paddled through and then got back just in time as a massive storm came over.

I jumped off the boat into the bay just as the storm hit. The others had to throw me a rope as I got dragged away from the boat, but I got back, got my breath and then jumped from the roof of the boat when the storm settled down.

Dinner was more seafood and our tour guide even did a song for us, in Vietnamese. Quite good actually.

Then up to the roof with beers and an aussie saying "How's the serenity?".

Ha Long Bay was GREAT! I booked a 2 day, 1 night boat trip to Ha Long bay through my hotel.  I stayed at the Hanoi Blue Sky Hotel which seems to be one of several hotels that are owned by a set of sisters. The sisters also own the boat that sails along Ha Long bay so it was easy to book tickets. I paid $65 for delux accomodations. Standard would have been around $45. But I met some guys who paid $95 for a standard room on the same boat I was on. They booked through an agent and not through one of the sisters' hotels.

In Ha Long bay there are very agresive vendors who row from boat to boat asking, "You wanna to buy something?" These women, yes women are very fit since they do this all day long. Every time you peek out from your boat they come rowing over to you. I saw very few people buying stuff and I wonder how much money they make. They row and row all day long wearing long sleeve shirts in the hot sun. But, they all sell the same thing, horrible cookies, soda and beer which they can't actaully sell. Most tours come with free meals and the beer and soda on board the boats and cheaper and easier to buy. They would make money if they sold batteries, chocolate bars, or sun block, but they don't. So, bring your own.

Oh what a feeling.................
This is the most attractive place on earth.
We travelled up on a minibus from Ha Noi up to Halong Bay and the scenery on the way up was so tropical such like North Qld, Australia.

Upon arrival in Ha Long Bay City, we were taken to the tour boat harbour. There, dozens of old-fashioned wooden boats waited to take us through the thousands of flowerpot islands that reminded the early Vietnamese of a "dragon set down in the sea". Although our boat, the "Bien Mo" could have held more than 50 people in comfort, there were only 10 of us.  Each of the boats had a dragon head carved on the bow - for luck - and a dragon's tail projected from the stern. The boats were made of native woods and were elaborately carved and lacquered.

Whoops, I forgot to set my alarm but Wayne's phone fully woke me up. Rushed to the bathroom, brought our bags with us downstairs because we had to check out and then ran back up for our breakfast. Wayne had toast and coffee (?) and I had vietnamese beef noodles. hehe :P Then our service came to fetch us - thank God! We didn't get scammed for booking at the fake Sinh Cafe! Really! We knew it was the wrong Sinh Cafe (the famous tour operator) but we just took the chance even without knowing its background. Haha! Well, they probably know I'd hunt them down if they didn't show up! After all, we know where their office was located. Hahaha!

We joined the group with Vietnamese, Canadian, Austrian, French and Japanese people. I got a lot of legroom again at the back and my bag even got a seat beside me. hahah! Lucky me! Well, Wayne couldn't sleep on his seat at the front while I've managed to doze off a few times during that 3.5 hour ride to Halong Bay. Boo! Oh be prepared to waste several minutes stopping by at vase/artwork shops and spend 3usd on a can of beer on your way. hehehe :) Well when we finally reached Halong Bay, I really thought it was going to  rain with the weight of those dark skies. Yikes! But luckily, it didn't rain...it's just unbelievably foggy. And there were a lot of tourists and everytime our guides would be out of sight, we would worry that they might abandon us! Paranoid! Haha! Never trust anyone, never. I've kept Wayne's words in mind. hahaha :P Well when we got onto our junk, we sat with the couple Monique the Canadian and her Austrian husband and of course, got to talking to them. :D Out of the blue, after learning that I'm from the Philippines, Monique's husband asked a very random question..."So, do you speak Portuguese?" Ha! What?! Is this guy purely mental? Hahaha! I would have said "yes, a little" if he asked if I speak Spanish. FYI, Philippines had been a colony of Spain for 400 years. Anyway, they're a very nice couple. :) They've been together for 9 years before they got married and they're now on their 3rd year in married life. Yeah, yeah...people always open up to me about their lovelife. :P

So we swung by a fishing village, got tempted to buy some exotic fish but thought about our free lunch so I found the free food more appealing. hahaha! We went into this cave too. I'll get back to you with its name. :P Finally, at around 4pm, we're already on our way back to Hanoi and now I was able to snatch about an hour of snooze. :P 

The second day was just filled with lounging and the opportunity to swim.  I was the only one on the entire boat who decided to jump in, and made it an exercise.  I swam to the nearest island and paced the beach for a while.  I noticed a jellyfish the size of beachball, so that made the swim back a bit more exciting, and I guess upped the pace as well. 

Overall, the visit to Ha Long Bay is definitly worth it.  It is amazing to see in person and I highly recommend it.  The sheer volume of limestone and its contrast with the waters make it beautiful and something everyone should see.  Vote for it at the new7wonders.com.

What can I say about Ha Long Bay?  I am not sure.  It is amazing, and up for a place in the natural 7 wonders of the world.  As you set off on the boat, you don't think too much of it.  You can see some peaks, but only after you have made your way out a bit further do you become lost in the labyrinth of jagged limestone peaks and emerald green water.  The tour that was done was ok.  We saw the main cave that was just unloading tourists by the boatload, literally and figuratively.  It was pretty, but felt unreal - roping, lighting, signs - kind of eliminated the cave feel. 

Later on you have the opportunity to rent a kayak for 80,000 vnd.  Its okay, you get eaten alive, but you can see some cool things and are right on the water.  You can go to a lagoon which again loses some of its zeal because everyone is going to this lagoon.  The highlight of the kayaking is when I got a lady to cut they price of her waters in half as we paddled up to her on the kayak.

Ha long bay is just somewhere near Hanoi. If you started your visit to Vietnam, then you can go to one of this tour and travel and book 1 day trip or even longer to ha long bay. the price is ranging between 10-50 USD. Depend on how many days and which kind of boat you are taking (private or sharing with other tourist). Usually price inclusive of bus, boat trip, lunch, guide, and entrance fees. I don't mean to promote a certain site as I'm not the owner of this tour thing, but usually I used sinh cafe tour, considering they have branch in HCMC where I lived and they can arrange trip to many places in Vietnam even before I left HCMC. The tour will pick you up in the hotel you are staying or you can go straight away to their office on the day of departure. And there bus will take you to go to the ferry jetty and you will start your journey.

08:15 uur vertrek met de bus vanuit Hanoi naar Halong Bay. We nemen alleen een rugzak mee, de rest van de koffers blijven in het hotel. We hebben met zijn allen 1 kamer gehuurd waar de spullen op kunnen blijven staan dus gedeeld 20 personen kost dat helemaal niets. Het is nog niet best, het is druilerig en mistig. Het is een paar uur rijden en onderweg stoppen we bij het Humanity Centre in Suo Do. Hier verkopen ze souvenirs die gemaakt zijn door gehandicapten, maar ik zie niet meer dan 2 gehandicapten. Alles is zo professioneel opgezet dat de enige die er beter van word volgens mij de eigenaar van de toko is (en niet de slachtoffers van Agent Orang zoals aangeplakt staat). De prijzen zijn bovendien 4 keer zo hoog als ergens anders.

Rond het middaguur komen we aan in Ha Long Bay, waar we op de boot gaan. Het is nog steeds erg mistig en het uitzicht zeer beperkt. We lunchen op de boot (best goed) en daarna ga ik naar het bovendek, waar ik na een tijdje als enige over blijf, tot ik weer gezelschap krijg van Trudy. Om 14:45 uur gaan we aan wal om een prachtige grot te bezoeken, die bovendien erg mooi verlicht is. Hier en daar kun je iets in een formatie herkennen zoals een man met baard die tegen een pilaar zit, of een draak tegen het plafon. Om 16:00 uur zijn we weer terug aan boord. We krijgen de mededeling dat er tussen 17:30 en 19:00 uur warm water is om te douchen. Onze hut heeft alleen koud water en er komt iemand naar kijken die de hele badkamer nat spettert, 2 batterijen verwisselt en daarna met zijn zeiknatte schoenen door de hele hut klost. Als Trudy hier iets van zegt, laat hij iemand komen die de vloer dweilt, zodat het nog natter word dan het al was. We douchen wel met warm water nu. Om 19:00 gaan we eten (niet zo goed als vanmiddag) en na het eten gaan we vrij wel meteen naar de hut om de sleutel te zoeken die ergens daar moet liggen. We vinden hem vrij snel en dan gaan we naar bed. Trudy gaat meteen slapen, ik ga nog wat schrijven.

Don't bother with Cat Ba Island.. just sleep on the boat :)

It took me a long time to write this blog because I was amazed by what I saw..  If you are not a nature lover, you'll see Ha Long Bay as a group of cliffs scattered in the sea..  But i was silenced by its beauty.. all you can to do is stare at it, try to capture the perfect view with your camera.. But the real thing is so much better compared to my pictures..

There are plenty of travel agencies in Hanoi catering to different tours.  Before going there, we were informed to watch out for several "fake tours", you pay so much and not end up getting what you paid for.  We choose APT travel and to our delight, it was a real agency, though they picked us up late from our hostel, that was pretty much my complain. 

Left the hostel around 830 in the morning, and when i went to my seat inside the van, was suprised to hear a very familiar language - hiligaynon! (hiligaynon is one of the plenty of dialects spoken in the Philippines, and from where I came from, that is our "dialect").   Among 13 people who will be staying in the junk boat, we meet 2 girls who came from the same province as me as my friend.  Ha Long Bay is not a common destination, usually Filipinos would prefer going to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) because there is a direct flight from Manila.  It's a small world after all =D

It was a long ride to Ha Long City, I was able to catch some snooze..(I have this talent, I can basically sleep anywhere =D)  When we reached the port, I was amazed to see really plenty of Junk boats.. all waiting for tourist to experience Ha Long Bay.

No "kargador" to pay (Kargador-local term of someone you are paying to carry your things; in short porter), I carried my backpack and other things to the junkboat.. It was quite a long walk, I was so tired when I arrived at the boat and sooo hungry (since we left late, we arrived at the port around 1pm).. We were told that lunch will be served as soon as formalities were done.  We gave our passports to the captain of the junkboat, drank our welcome drinks. Refreshed with cold towels..  And lunch was worth the wait, yum.yum..yum.. perfect because everybody is soo hungry.

After lunch we introduced ourselves.. There are 13 tourists on board - 2 Australians, 2 Germans, 2 Malaysians, 2 newly wed Vietnamese, 1 Taiwanese and 4 Filipinos =D Our tour guide was very pleasant, made the trip much more interesting.  After introductions, we decided to enjoy the sun, went up the roof deck, enjoying silence and the mystic of the Bay .. Few hours later, we reached the cave, said to be one of the biggest cave in Vietnam.. Those who enjoyed hiking went inside, there is a terrace where you can view the bay, a perfect "view from the top".

After  hiking, those who wanted to kayak went down the boat, there is a kayak station in the middle of the bay =D  Pretending to be brave we decided to try it.  We are given an hour and a half to enjoying the sport, while the rest went to the nearby island to go swimming..  This is my second time to kayak, the first one was difficult, the second one isn't easier either. LOL... After i don't know how many minutes, we reached the island where our boat was docked, we were tired!  We are supposed to bring the kayak back to the kayak station, that is like 2km from we currently are..  No more energy and overwhelmed by the days' activity, we searched for our tour guide and asked her if it is possible to tie the kayak in the boat =D  They were laughing, including the captain as if expecting that we will be asking it.

After the tiring day, we had a hearty dinner, went up the roof to enjoy the silence of the night.  Beautiful bay, the lights of the different junk boats reflecting in the water.  Since most junk boats ar near each other, you can transfer from one boat, if you wanna join their party =D

Had a good night rest, ate another sumptous breakfast, and spent the morning enjoying the sun.. It was a really good trip, very relaxing too.  We arrived in Hanoi around 4:30 in the afternoon, went to check-in in the hostel and stroll in the city center.  We were supposed to watch the water puppets but the show that night was fully booked, we purchased a ticket for the show the following morning.

Hanoi is basically a safe place, with very visible policemen.. But you have to be very careful, someone opened the zipper of my bag while I was walking down near the lake.  Good because I felt it! If not, I may have lost my passport =( .. and my money ..

Ha Long Bay is 170km from Hanoi in northern Vietnam. Boat trips to the Bay from Hanoi are readily available from local tourism shops and cafes, and all follow the same basic pattern - transport to Ha Long Bay, 2-3 days on the bay on a boat, and transport back (at exceptionally cheap prices). Whole fleets of similar boats ply the waters, but they soon disperse among the nearly 2000 limestone islands, giving you time to cruise around and jump off the boat for a swim. The food is good, accommodation on board is comfortable, and the ride is very relaxing. The islands are the highlight of the bay. The erosion of islands gives them an inverted look, with a narrow base rising up above the high tide level, caped with lush jungle. The area is World Heritage listed for its natural significance, but also has great cultural significance to Vietnam. It was in Ha Long Bay that Tran Hung Dao stopped the Mongolian invasion in 1288, by placing steel-tipped wooden stakes under the water to rip the bottom from the Mongol fleet.

First of all - thanks so much guys for the messages and the emails - Love it!!!!  Nic, hold on - remember those twins will be gorgeous but for the moment they are better in than out!  So glad you are well - text me if you have news about that belly of yours:)

Dim and Deb - thanks guys.  I will stop complaining about the sweltering heat - but before I do - I am sitting in a puddle of my own sweat here.  You see condensation running down the walls.  I am resembling Kylie from the locomotion video clip again - remember my gorgeous curls....they're back!!!

Our group....

Our group leader is called Hong.  He is my age but looks like he is about 15.  He has a son called ‘son’ – go figure!  His son came out to join us when we went out to Halong Bay for the night.  He doesn’t speak any English and I think he thought we were all very strange.  There are 12 in our group and we all met for the first time on Saturday night.  There’s Marcus, Jane and their son Will and they are from Wellington in New Zealand.  Jenny, Andy and their two son’s – Matt and Nick and they are from Jersey  off the coast of France although haven’t been there that long and have the strongest South African accents.   Margaret and her son Oliver are from Bondi in Sydney.  And us, of course.  Lauren quickly noted that there were no other girls on the trip other than the mum’s – she has fit right in though.

The water park was fun.  There were the most amazing water slides with loops this way and that.  There was also a big circular pool that explored the whole park and pushed you around on a big tube under waterfalls and bridges.  It was so nice to be in the cool water – we didn’t want to leave. 

On Sunday we visited the Mauseleum and did a massive walk.  Kids were close to ganging up and starting a mutiny as we dragged them through the crowded streets.  It was about a 40 mins walk from the hotel but the heat just adds to the fun really.  Every time we passed an icecream vendor (there’s one on every street) they began to chant until we gave in.

When we walk the streets as a group, we are creating quite a stir with the 6 little kids all drawing loads of attention.  Most of the time, people will go out of their way to try and touch them on their arms or their hair.  Hong explained that they think it is good luck.  The kids quite like the attention anyway.

Yesterday we drove out to Halong Bay – about a 4 hour drive.  It was great.  We overnighted on a boat in the middle of this bay that is surrounded by limestone formation islands.  Just stunning – and that’s not doing it justice.  The kids spent most of the time jumping off the boat and swimming.  Every meal is a smorgasboard of assorted cuisine.  Huge amounts of seafood (that are lost on me) and all sorts of things.  So much for going to Vietnam and shedding a few kgs.  Ah well.

At the moment we have day use of a few hotel rooms to shower and relax before we catch the train down to Hue tonight.  Not sure what the standard will be like on the train – hey, it’s gotta be better than India, right.

Well, that’s it for now.  So much to do and not enough time to chat and type – now, that’s not like me!

Am having a hard time picking out pics – am taking so many that I want to put them all on the site but I will keep it to just a few so that I can bore you all when I return.  Tam Biet!