Hey folks,
Just wanted to give a heads up to those of you following this blog. We have migrated our main blog away from this blog. This one is now dedicated to our East Asian trip in 2011-2012 solely.
Our URL for our main blog hasn't changed, instead we changed this one to jagjourneys-korea.blogspot.com. If you are following this blog via Blogspot, and want to continue to see our new blog posts, you'll need to go to jagjourneys.blogspot.com and subscribe to that blog.
Once you go there, if you check the travel page, you'll see links to this blog under Korea and Vietnam. The intention is to make it appear to be one site to the average user.
We just wanted to give this heads up for those of you who receive updates from us via a subscription. Thanks for reading our blog!
- Jonathan & Ali
Friday, April 17, 2015
Friday, December 19, 2014
Layover in Shanghai
Vietnam Trip ~ Day 15
(Layover on return flight from Vietnam)
July 27, 2012
We arrived in Shanghai around 8 a.m. on Friday (about an hour late from our expected arrival). After a long walk through the terminal, we finally arrived at the initial passport control area. From that line-up, people were sent in three directions, either into the international terminal, to domestic flights, or to immigration/customs. We would have been sent to the international terminal, but we told the officials that we planned to spend our 8-hour layover exploring Shanghai, so were sent to immigration and customs. The night before, while researching about our time in Shanghai, we had discovered that if visiting China for less than 48 hours no visa is needed to leave the airport, so we knew we'd have no problems with immigration. Soon our passports were stamped with Chinese stamps, and we were outside security. I (Ali) was especially excited to be able to get a new country added to my list because of this layover!
We made a quick stop at a currency exchange kiosk to get some Chinese Yuan, and also bought a few snacks at an airport convenience store to tide us over until we could find some real food. Then we headed off to find the fast train into downtown Shanghai that we had found out about while researching the night before. The train was a maglev train, which was pretty interesting to experience. The train got up to 430km/h during the 8-minute ride, which was pretty astonishing, although we decided the ride was definitely not as smooth as the KTX trains in South Korea.
(Layover on return flight from Vietnam)
July 27, 2012
We arrived in Shanghai around 8 a.m. on Friday (about an hour late from our expected arrival). After a long walk through the terminal, we finally arrived at the initial passport control area. From that line-up, people were sent in three directions, either into the international terminal, to domestic flights, or to immigration/customs. We would have been sent to the international terminal, but we told the officials that we planned to spend our 8-hour layover exploring Shanghai, so were sent to immigration and customs. The night before, while researching about our time in Shanghai, we had discovered that if visiting China for less than 48 hours no visa is needed to leave the airport, so we knew we'd have no problems with immigration. Soon our passports were stamped with Chinese stamps, and we were outside security. I (Ali) was especially excited to be able to get a new country added to my list because of this layover!
We made a quick stop at a currency exchange kiosk to get some Chinese Yuan, and also bought a few snacks at an airport convenience store to tide us over until we could find some real food. Then we headed off to find the fast train into downtown Shanghai that we had found out about while researching the night before. The train was a maglev train, which was pretty interesting to experience. The train got up to 430km/h during the 8-minute ride, which was pretty astonishing, although we decided the ride was definitely not as smooth as the KTX trains in South Korea.
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| Approaching Shanghai, a.k.a. high rise city |
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| Maglev tickets! |
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| Requisite photo op |
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| It's a train! |
The maglev train ended at a subway station where we bought day passes for the subway and navigated our way underground to the subway heading downtown. We noticed right away that the Shanghai subways were definitely not up to the standards of the Seoul and other South Korean subways. It was fine, just not as clean and not as smooth of a ride as the Korean subways. And we definitely missed the a/c aspect on such a hot day. Before too long we were exiting the downtown subway station and right where we wanted to be: in front of the Oriental Pearl Tower. We spent a bit of time walking around the walkways in front of the tower and over the highways, taking pictures of the tower, then got in line to get tickets. The line took quite a long time, but once up the tower, we enjoyed the views of Shanghai from the various lookout decks. While in line for the elevator to take us to the top deck, I started to get worried about getting back to the airport in time for our flight to BC. I really didn't want to miss it! Jonathan calmed me down, though, and I enjoyed the view from the tallest lookout. After coming back down the tower, we stopped at a Subway shop right nearby to grab some food, and then took the subway and maglev train back to the airport.
(Note: We learned about the Shanghai maglev train from an article from Time's Travel section, "Shanghai: 10 Things to Do." If you're planning to visit the city, check out the article for interesting ideas and more info on the maglev train.)
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| Subway tickets |
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| Downtown Shanghai |
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| Year of the Dragon |
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| Mobile ice cream stand |
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| Dragonali |
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| Roundabout |
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| What we came to do |
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| #Selfie! |
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| Towering over us |
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| Line for the main elevator up the tower |
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| Random carved wooden lion |
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| Tiny little cruise ships |
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| Bottle opener building |
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| Huangpu River |
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| U.F.O. - unidentified funny-looking object |
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| You Are Here |
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| In the traffic circle |
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| Hi |
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| The ceiling of the elevator was a mirror... |
During our trip back, we both got a little bit worried about making it back to the airport in time for our 4 p.m. flight since it seemed like we had to wait a long time for each train to arrive. In the end, we did make it back in enough time, but we sure rushed and speed-walked through the airport back to security. Once in the line for security we knew we'd have enough time, though, so we could relax a little. The line didn't take too long and soon we were back in the international terminal.
As it turned out, we needn't have rushed at all -- our plane was delayed, and the departure time kept being pushed back further and further. Finally we heard an announcement that we would be given the supper that we were supposed to get on the plane, since it was already quite a bit past suppertime by that time. We were quite ready for the meal and ate it gladly. Once we were done, we still had to wait. Finally, after two hours of waiting, our plane had arrived and we could board. Before boarding, we quickly wrote my parents an e-mail letting them know that we would be at least two hours late into Vancouver. Once boarded we sat at the gate for another hour before moving. And then, when we thought we'd finally be taking off soon, we ended up sitting on the runway for yet another hour! The craziest occurrence was still to come, though. Just as we were gearing up for our take-off, all of a sudden it seemed like all the passengers on the plane burst into activity. They stood up, opened overhead compartments, rearranged contents, and just in general seemed to have something very important to accomplish. The flight attendants tried in vain to get everyone seated again. The passengers, who by this time were quite riled up, yelled at them and mayhem continued. Finally it seemed like the pilots had had enough of this and they just started down the runway anyway. People quickly sat back into their seats, and buckled up, but it wasn't until we were moving that they all started cooperating. It was quite something to witness! We'd never seen anything like it before.
The overnight flight was long, but uneventful. We had been scheduled to get in at 11:40 a.m. Pacific Time on Friday, but because of all the delays, we actually arrived around 4 p.m. Going through immigration and customs was a breeze and we got to the baggage claim soon after and quickly saw my parents. After hugs (and catching a few glimpses of the opening ceremony of the London Summer Olympics on the TVs in the baggage claim), we told them all about our crazy delays and they told us about getting to the airport two hours before our flight and how they kept themselves occupied until we arrived. We grabbed our backpacking backpack off the luggage carousel when it came around and then headed to the parking lot for our two-hour drive east to Hope, BC to spend the weekend at the BC Campmeeting campground with family members and friends.
And that ends our travel series on our Vietnam trip! It was a wonderful trip, but after nine months of living, working, and traveling in Asia, we were pretty happy to be back in North America again, and excited to move into the next chapter of our lives.
As it turned out, we needn't have rushed at all -- our plane was delayed, and the departure time kept being pushed back further and further. Finally we heard an announcement that we would be given the supper that we were supposed to get on the plane, since it was already quite a bit past suppertime by that time. We were quite ready for the meal and ate it gladly. Once we were done, we still had to wait. Finally, after two hours of waiting, our plane had arrived and we could board. Before boarding, we quickly wrote my parents an e-mail letting them know that we would be at least two hours late into Vancouver. Once boarded we sat at the gate for another hour before moving. And then, when we thought we'd finally be taking off soon, we ended up sitting on the runway for yet another hour! The craziest occurrence was still to come, though. Just as we were gearing up for our take-off, all of a sudden it seemed like all the passengers on the plane burst into activity. They stood up, opened overhead compartments, rearranged contents, and just in general seemed to have something very important to accomplish. The flight attendants tried in vain to get everyone seated again. The passengers, who by this time were quite riled up, yelled at them and mayhem continued. Finally it seemed like the pilots had had enough of this and they just started down the runway anyway. People quickly sat back into their seats, and buckled up, but it wasn't until we were moving that they all started cooperating. It was quite something to witness! We'd never seen anything like it before.
The overnight flight was long, but uneventful. We had been scheduled to get in at 11:40 a.m. Pacific Time on Friday, but because of all the delays, we actually arrived around 4 p.m. Going through immigration and customs was a breeze and we got to the baggage claim soon after and quickly saw my parents. After hugs (and catching a few glimpses of the opening ceremony of the London Summer Olympics on the TVs in the baggage claim), we told them all about our crazy delays and they told us about getting to the airport two hours before our flight and how they kept themselves occupied until we arrived. We grabbed our backpacking backpack off the luggage carousel when it came around and then headed to the parking lot for our two-hour drive east to Hope, BC to spend the weekend at the BC Campmeeting campground with family members and friends.
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And that ends our travel series on our Vietnam trip! It was a wonderful trip, but after nine months of living, working, and traveling in Asia, we were pretty happy to be back in North America again, and excited to move into the next chapter of our lives.
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Back in Hanoi & Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnam Trip ~ Day 14
July 26, 2012
After our couple-day stay in Halong City and finally getting to go out on the bay, we took the shuttle bus back to Hanoi with the group of tourists from our tour boat on Wednesday evening and settled back into the same hostel that we stayed in on Sunday night. Thursday morning we got up early, were in a taxi on the way to the airport a bit before 7, and got there a bit before 8 (the airport was a little ways out of town). It didn't take us long at all to get our boarding passes and check Jonathan's large backpacking backpack, so we were able to have a bit of breakfast and then went through security and only had a little time to wait before we boarded the bus that took us to our plane. Our airline was Jetstar Pacific, which serves the southeastern Asian countries and Australia. There were many Vietnamese people on the flight (and only about five other white people aboard). It seemed like most had never flown before. They were all gasping and cheering subdued-ly when we took off. Whenever we had a bit of a bump of turbulence, they'd gasp, too. It was fun to watch their excitement. :)
The flight was just two hours long, and we arrived a little before noon. It was such a breeze compared to all of the other traveling we'd done in the country so far. It was definitely worth the ~$100 each to fly back to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) rather than take a 24-hour+ train back down! When we arrived in HCMC, we got a bus to the terminal, and just a few minutes later we collected Jonathan's backpacking backpack from baggage claim, and walked outside to catch a taxi to the hotel we had booked (the one we had wanted to get the first night we were in Vietnam, but couldn't because it was overbooked and we had to stay at the one across the road).
After checking in, we put our luggage in our room and rested for a bit, but soon headed back out to enjoy our last few hours in Vietnam. We spent the afternoon wandering the surrounding streets and looking into local souvenir and tourist shops. (We had only had about an hour or two in HCMC when we first arrived two weeks earlier, so we hadn't seen much of anything then.)
In the mid-afternoon, once our feet were sore and we'd bought all the souvenirs and presents we wanted and could pack along with us, we stopped by the nearby Subway restaurant and got some Western food for supper. By this time we were pretty ready to eat some Western food again, and Subway was the perfect meal! After our early supper, we walked back to our hotel, and used the computers in the lobby to write some last e-mails before leaving the country. Then we headed up to our room to made sure our new purchases were all packed up and ready to go, and that we were all prepared to head to the airport later that night, and then took a nap that turned into a pretty decent sleep.
We had both our phone alarms set so that we'd be sure to wake up in time to catch a taxi to the airport so we'd be there in plenty of time for our flight. All this went according to plan, except for one tiny detail: when we woke up around 11 p.m., I (Ali) was feeling a bit off. I took some charcoal, and we managed to wash up, change into our traveling clothes, get ready to leave, and catch a taxi by 11:30 p.m. On the drive to the airport I felt more and more sick, and between getting into the ticketing line and boarding our plane, I ended up having to use plastic bags twice... Ick! Once on the plane I started to feel better, which was such a relief. Feeling sick while traveling is no fun at all! Especially when you just want to be home and don't want to be detained anywhere.
Our flight was scheduled to leave at 1:55 a.m., but left a little late (as per usual for all four of our China Eastern Airlines flights on this trip to and from Vietnam), although much less late than our other three flights. Our flight to Shanghai took about four hours, and we took advantage of the night and darkness and tried to sleep as well as possible.
When we were finally settled on the plane and it was taxiing, we had some time to think about the past two weeks since we had arrived in Ho Chi Minh City and then quickly taken a train up north to Mui Ne. Time sure did fly by, and we thoroughly loved the opportunity to travel up the Vietnam coast. We so enjoyed seeing a new country and learning more about it and the people who lived there. The scenery was absolutely amazing and the weather was, too, for almost the whole trip. All in all, our two weeks in Vietnam was a perfect end to our stint abroad!
Next up: Layover in Shanghai
July 26, 2012
The flight was just two hours long, and we arrived a little before noon. It was such a breeze compared to all of the other traveling we'd done in the country so far. It was definitely worth the ~$100 each to fly back to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) rather than take a 24-hour+ train back down! When we arrived in HCMC, we got a bus to the terminal, and just a few minutes later we collected Jonathan's backpacking backpack from baggage claim, and walked outside to catch a taxi to the hotel we had booked (the one we had wanted to get the first night we were in Vietnam, but couldn't because it was overbooked and we had to stay at the one across the road).
After checking in, we put our luggage in our room and rested for a bit, but soon headed back out to enjoy our last few hours in Vietnam. We spent the afternoon wandering the surrounding streets and looking into local souvenir and tourist shops. (We had only had about an hour or two in HCMC when we first arrived two weeks earlier, so we hadn't seen much of anything then.)
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| Peppers |
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| Local delicacy - scorpions and snakes in some kind of alcoholic beverage |
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| Souvenirs |
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| More souvenirs |
In the mid-afternoon, once our feet were sore and we'd bought all the souvenirs and presents we wanted and could pack along with us, we stopped by the nearby Subway restaurant and got some Western food for supper. By this time we were pretty ready to eat some Western food again, and Subway was the perfect meal! After our early supper, we walked back to our hotel, and used the computers in the lobby to write some last e-mails before leaving the country. Then we headed up to our room to made sure our new purchases were all packed up and ready to go, and that we were all prepared to head to the airport later that night, and then took a nap that turned into a pretty decent sleep.
We had both our phone alarms set so that we'd be sure to wake up in time to catch a taxi to the airport so we'd be there in plenty of time for our flight. All this went according to plan, except for one tiny detail: when we woke up around 11 p.m., I (Ali) was feeling a bit off. I took some charcoal, and we managed to wash up, change into our traveling clothes, get ready to leave, and catch a taxi by 11:30 p.m. On the drive to the airport I felt more and more sick, and between getting into the ticketing line and boarding our plane, I ended up having to use plastic bags twice... Ick! Once on the plane I started to feel better, which was such a relief. Feeling sick while traveling is no fun at all! Especially when you just want to be home and don't want to be detained anywhere.
Our flight was scheduled to leave at 1:55 a.m., but left a little late (as per usual for all four of our China Eastern Airlines flights on this trip to and from Vietnam), although much less late than our other three flights. Our flight to Shanghai took about four hours, and we took advantage of the night and darkness and tried to sleep as well as possible.
When we were finally settled on the plane and it was taxiing, we had some time to think about the past two weeks since we had arrived in Ho Chi Minh City and then quickly taken a train up north to Mui Ne. Time sure did fly by, and we thoroughly loved the opportunity to travel up the Vietnam coast. We so enjoyed seeing a new country and learning more about it and the people who lived there. The scenery was absolutely amazing and the weather was, too, for almost the whole trip. All in all, our two weeks in Vietnam was a perfect end to our stint abroad!
Next up: Layover in Shanghai
Friday, December 5, 2014
Halong Bay
Vietnam Trip ~ Days 11-13
July 23-25, 2012
We got up early in the morning on Monday, had the free breakfast our hostel provided, and then used the computers in the lobby while we waited for our bus to arrive to take us to our tour of Halong Bay. It was supposed to arrive around 8 a.m., but was late. After waiting for about fifteen minutes, one of the men working at the hostel sat down at the computer beside me that Jonathan had just vacated. He looked up something on Google Translate and then told us, "I don't think you can go to Halong Bay today."' We were confused and asked why. He said the tour company had called and said there was a thunderstorm there. I looked at the computer he was using and he had looked up the word 'storm.' So then we had to figure out what to do instead of going on our tour. We looked up the weather for the Halong Bay area and it said it was supposed to be stormy all week until next Sunday. We didn't really want to just stay in Hanoi until our flight back down to Saigon, so we decided to just get a public bus to Halong City and at least see the bay from shore if we couldn't go out sailing on it. We got a refund for our trip and the lady at the front desk was sad we weren't able to go. She said that we could do a 2 day/1 night trip tomorrow if the weather was better, but we didn't really want to sit around for an extra day and then just have the weather not cooperate for us. So we got a taxi ride to the bus station. The taxi driver didn't actually know where the station was since it was quite a ways from the Old Quarter (I guess not too many tourists use the public buses since most get tours out to Halong Bay). He stopped twice to ask other taxi and motorcycle taxi drivers where the station was. Finally we arrived and then had an easy time buying tickets.
The bus trip was about 4.5 or 5 hours and some of it was in rain, especially the nearer we got to the bay. When we got close, the bus stopped and we had to get out and take motorcycle taxis the 5 remaining km to Halong City. We hurriedly dug our raincoats and pack covers out and put them on, then hopped on the bikes. Soon after we got to the hotel, the rain stopped! We got a hotel near the shore and then wandered around looking at the small city. After we ate supper, we walked down the main street in Halong City and came to a tour company. We went in and asked the lady about a tour of the bay and she told us about a couple options we could have if the weather got better. Since we couldn't go on a 3 day/2 night tour anymore we decided a 2 day/1 night would be nice. She said to come by the office by noon the next day to see if the weather would allow us to go.
When we got back to our hotel that evening we looked through the tour book that our hotel had at the front desk. It looked like a good tour, too, and it had a nice itinerary. We didn't know which one to take, so early Tuesday morning Jonathan walked back to the tour company to ask the lady there for the itinerary of that trip. It turned out that the weather wasn't good enough for going on a trip that day either, and we asked the man at our hotel, too, but he said his tour wasn't going either. So we spent the day just relaxing and didn't do too much. We did change hotels, though, to a hotel mentioned in our guidebook. We didn't really appreciate the man at the first hotel since he was quite pushy to try to get us to do what he thought we should do and also seemed a little too interested and snoopy in our plans. We didn't like that very much, so we switched to a hotel a few buildings down the street. It rained really hard in the afternoon and we spent most of it indoors watching some TV. In the evening we went back outdoors and walked around a bit, and then had supper before turning in for the night.
Wednesday morning we got up and ready to head out by 7:45. Jonathan tried calling the tour company on the phone in our room, but it didn't work so we went downstairs to call from the lobby. The lady told us that there was no tour in the morning, but we should come to her office just before noon and we could go on an afternoon tour that was coming from Hanoi. So we were happy we'd at least get to see some of the bay before we had to leave that area and go back to Hanoi. We walked along the shore in the late morning and took some pictures of the cloudy bay from the beach and dock. Then we headed to the tour company. They confirmed that we could, in fact, go on the tour and we were excited to finally explore a bit of the bay. We had a quick lunch at a restaurant across the street, where we could see the tour company from the restaurant windows. After two days of waiting we didn't want to accidentally miss the tour!
After lunch, we waited for a while at the tour company and finally one of the workers got a taxi and brought us out to the ferry dock. He showed us where to join our group and then we were with them for the rest of the afternoon. We just saw a small part of the bay, but it was quite amazing to see such huge limestone karsts jutting steeply out of the water all over the place! We visited a floating village and got rides in small boats around that area. Then we went farther around that group of islands and finally ended up at a cave that we walked through before heading back to the harbour. The trip took us about three and a half hours in total, not what we'd initially planned, but it was certainly better than not being able to go out in the bay at all. In the end, we decided that we'll have to come back here sometime and spend a good amount of time just in this northern area to see more of the bay and the other two bays that are nearby and less popular with tourists.
We were able to get the shuttle bus back to Hanoi with our group so it was much nicer and faster than taking a public bus like we had to get out to Halong City. It took us about three and a half hours with a half an hour stop for bathrooms, and looking at a souvenir shop.
So Mother Nature definitely had her own plans for the last few days of our trip. Hopefully we'll be able to come back and visit northern Vietnam again, though, to spend a little bit more time in this area.
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July 23-25, 2012
We got up early in the morning on Monday, had the free breakfast our hostel provided, and then used the computers in the lobby while we waited for our bus to arrive to take us to our tour of Halong Bay. It was supposed to arrive around 8 a.m., but was late. After waiting for about fifteen minutes, one of the men working at the hostel sat down at the computer beside me that Jonathan had just vacated. He looked up something on Google Translate and then told us, "I don't think you can go to Halong Bay today."' We were confused and asked why. He said the tour company had called and said there was a thunderstorm there. I looked at the computer he was using and he had looked up the word 'storm.' So then we had to figure out what to do instead of going on our tour. We looked up the weather for the Halong Bay area and it said it was supposed to be stormy all week until next Sunday. We didn't really want to just stay in Hanoi until our flight back down to Saigon, so we decided to just get a public bus to Halong City and at least see the bay from shore if we couldn't go out sailing on it. We got a refund for our trip and the lady at the front desk was sad we weren't able to go. She said that we could do a 2 day/1 night trip tomorrow if the weather was better, but we didn't really want to sit around for an extra day and then just have the weather not cooperate for us. So we got a taxi ride to the bus station. The taxi driver didn't actually know where the station was since it was quite a ways from the Old Quarter (I guess not too many tourists use the public buses since most get tours out to Halong Bay). He stopped twice to ask other taxi and motorcycle taxi drivers where the station was. Finally we arrived and then had an easy time buying tickets.
The bus trip was about 4.5 or 5 hours and some of it was in rain, especially the nearer we got to the bay. When we got close, the bus stopped and we had to get out and take motorcycle taxis the 5 remaining km to Halong City. We hurriedly dug our raincoats and pack covers out and put them on, then hopped on the bikes. Soon after we got to the hotel, the rain stopped! We got a hotel near the shore and then wandered around looking at the small city. After we ate supper, we walked down the main street in Halong City and came to a tour company. We went in and asked the lady about a tour of the bay and she told us about a couple options we could have if the weather got better. Since we couldn't go on a 3 day/2 night tour anymore we decided a 2 day/1 night would be nice. She said to come by the office by noon the next day to see if the weather would allow us to go.
When we got back to our hotel that evening we looked through the tour book that our hotel had at the front desk. It looked like a good tour, too, and it had a nice itinerary. We didn't know which one to take, so early Tuesday morning Jonathan walked back to the tour company to ask the lady there for the itinerary of that trip. It turned out that the weather wasn't good enough for going on a trip that day either, and we asked the man at our hotel, too, but he said his tour wasn't going either. So we spent the day just relaxing and didn't do too much. We did change hotels, though, to a hotel mentioned in our guidebook. We didn't really appreciate the man at the first hotel since he was quite pushy to try to get us to do what he thought we should do and also seemed a little too interested and snoopy in our plans. We didn't like that very much, so we switched to a hotel a few buildings down the street. It rained really hard in the afternoon and we spent most of it indoors watching some TV. In the evening we went back outdoors and walked around a bit, and then had supper before turning in for the night.
Wednesday morning we got up and ready to head out by 7:45. Jonathan tried calling the tour company on the phone in our room, but it didn't work so we went downstairs to call from the lobby. The lady told us that there was no tour in the morning, but we should come to her office just before noon and we could go on an afternoon tour that was coming from Hanoi. So we were happy we'd at least get to see some of the bay before we had to leave that area and go back to Hanoi. We walked along the shore in the late morning and took some pictures of the cloudy bay from the beach and dock. Then we headed to the tour company. They confirmed that we could, in fact, go on the tour and we were excited to finally explore a bit of the bay. We had a quick lunch at a restaurant across the street, where we could see the tour company from the restaurant windows. After two days of waiting we didn't want to accidentally miss the tour!
After lunch, we waited for a while at the tour company and finally one of the workers got a taxi and brought us out to the ferry dock. He showed us where to join our group and then we were with them for the rest of the afternoon. We just saw a small part of the bay, but it was quite amazing to see such huge limestone karsts jutting steeply out of the water all over the place! We visited a floating village and got rides in small boats around that area. Then we went farther around that group of islands and finally ended up at a cave that we walked through before heading back to the harbour. The trip took us about three and a half hours in total, not what we'd initially planned, but it was certainly better than not being able to go out in the bay at all. In the end, we decided that we'll have to come back here sometime and spend a good amount of time just in this northern area to see more of the bay and the other two bays that are nearby and less popular with tourists.
We were able to get the shuttle bus back to Hanoi with our group so it was much nicer and faster than taking a public bus like we had to get out to Halong City. It took us about three and a half hours with a half an hour stop for bathrooms, and looking at a souvenir shop.
So Mother Nature definitely had her own plans for the last few days of our trip. Hopefully we'll be able to come back and visit northern Vietnam again, though, to spend a little bit more time in this area.
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| Empty beach |
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| The bay |
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| Tour boats |
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| We rounded a corner... |
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| ...and there sat a village! |
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| On the way home from school |
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| We took a ride in a small boat, going through the tunnel |
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| Fruit seller |
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| School building |
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| Leaving |
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| So close yet so far |
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| Stairs |
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| Skittles lights |
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| Strange formation |
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| Underground beauty |
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| Our dunnage |
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| Last look |
Next up: Back in Hanoi & Ho Chi Minh City
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