Penultimate stop... HALONG BAY

On Sunday, we took the train from Ninh Binh to Hanoi. I really wanted to take another train ride and especially visit Hanoi. But I will write a separate story about Hanoi 😉😉😉😉

At least we had 2 nights in Hanoi and wanted to go from there to the famous Halong Bay for 3 days and then back to Hanoi. In Hanoi, there are tours offered on every corner for 2, 3, 4 days with a thousand different options. So we booked a tour directly at the hostel and asked for different offers. In the end, we chose Halong Fantasy Cruise with one night on the boat and one night in Cat Ba in a bungalow. On Tuesday morning, it was time to go. A small bus picked us up again. The bus was already full and it took 3.5 hours from Hanoi to Halong. The regular buses are really small and you can't stand it for more than 3 hours. But what can you do, you just have to go through it 😉

Finally arrived in Halong, we boarded the boat and off we went. The boat was quite basic, but it was enough for one night. We also joined a few people right away and the typical backpacker question round started...
Where are you from?
How long have you been traveling?
What has been the highlight so far?
Where are you going next?

Some people briefly tell their life stories, but that's also what backpacking is all about. Seeing and experiencing a lot in a short time and getting to know many people. At least on that day, we cruised through Halong Bay. Just like a hundred other boats. It's crazy how hundreds of visitors are brought in here every day.... And here we are thinking about banning diesel cars 😂 The boats here don't even meet EURO1 emission standards. But we already knew that we're not alone here, so we simply enjoyed the amazing view. It's crazy how the mountains rise out of the sea. It immediately reminds me of Thailand last year. That day, we visited a cave. We had already seen the 4th... 5th cave by now, but still impressive every time. The only problem this time was that there were about 1237 Chinese people with us 🤨. But well, the cave was in the mountains and had a great view. Then we went kayaking on a small island where monkeys live. Back on the boat, we had some food and the evening ended on the deck of the boat with gin and tonic and funny conversations 😉

Next morning, breakfast was served at 7 am and then we went to another island where we could climb up to a viewpoint and had another amazing view. Then we went to the largest island, Cat Ba. Here we visited the national park and also hiked up into the mountains again. There was a lot to discover again. After that, we were taken to Monkey Island, where we spent the night in a bungalow. In the short time, we saw and experienced a lot of things. Even though Halong is very touristy, it's a must-visit when you're in Vietnam. The downside is that there are mosquitoes everywhere and I am completely covered in bites. They even attacked my eyes, so now I look like Karl Dall in his prime years 😂.
On Thursday, we went back to Hanoi by boat and bus. For the last two days, we treated ourselves to a better hotel, so we can finally relax a bit. The past 2.5 weeks have been quite stressful, but it was worth it...

So let's go to Hanoi and there will be another post 😅😜