Last weekend I made a trip to Hanoi and finally Halong Bay. After one year, I finally had the opportunity to go there. It was a wonderful trip all together!
Hanoi
I already knew Hanoi a bit, but my opinion was confirmed, that it is a nicer city than Ho Chi Minh City. A bit more traditional and with a real city center.
I stayed in the same hotel as during my last trip: The Hanoi Elegance Emerald. And again, it was just an excellent stay. The people are so friendly, supportive and helpful there. It's a hotel to come back. Nice and clean rooms, good breakfast and very reasonable rates per night. What do you want more
Hanoi is as well a very busy city, but still a bit more relaxed than Ho Chi Minh. I really like the area around the old quarter. Very lively at night:
But as well very nice views:
The cable chaos is always fascinating!
Promenade at Hoan Kiem Lake
Illuminated Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake!
Hanoi at Night
Bridge to the Ngoc Son Temple
View on Hoan Kiem Lake and Ngoc Son Temple
The "center" of Hanoi
Old quarter
Old quarter
Night Market
Night Market
Night Market
Night Market
Night Market
Night Market
But as well during daytime Hanoi is beautiful and busy, especially during weekends:
St. Joseph's Cathedral
St. Joseph's Cathedral inside during a service
Cho Dong Xuan Market inside
Cho Dong Xuan Market inside
Cho Dong Xuan Market inside
Cho Dong Xuan Market inside - experienced sales manager
Especially young people spend their weekends in the city center, making funny pictures, playing, dancing, making music, having ice cream...
A famous vietnamese Ice cream brand (Kem Trang Tien) has a funny shop in Hanoi, where they sell just one flavour. It's more like a big parking garage for motorbikes, and it is always full.
This time I went to the Ho Chi Minh Museum, however I found it not very interesting. It somehow requires a lot of knowledge about Ho Chi Minh, otherwise the exhibition doesn't make much sense, at least not to foreigners.
Ho Chi Minh Statue in the Museum.
Ho Chi Minh Museum
Next to the museum there is the Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh. Unfortunately the Mausoleum was closed at the time. Two months each year they have to "restore" or remummify the body of Ho Chi Minh, and that is usually during October and November.
Mausoleum
Presidential Palast
Next day was the trip to
Halong Bay
We booked a 2 days / 1 night cruise with Bhaya cruises. It was just amazing. Very well organized (except for the checkin), nice agenda and beautiful boat:
Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and basically one of the main tourist attractions of Vietnam. It consists of thousands of limestone karsts and it's a real maze. However, it's just stunning. Just see here some impressions. We were lucky, since we had full moon during our stay.
Moon over Halong Bay
Sunrise at Halong Bay
Amazingly there are people living in Halong Bay. They are living in the so called floating village. Small rowing boats bring you to their village:
They place where we anchored for the night was actually crowded with boats. Still a beautiful view:
Next day we were visiting a cave. There are many in Halong Bay. Unfortunately they let too many tourists at a time inside, so the experience is not really nice. However the cave was amazing:
View from the cave on the Bay
After the cave, we headed back to the boat and back to the mainland. Actually one day longer wouldn't have hurt. It was a beautiful and stunning atmosphere in Halong Bay. However, I'm doubtful that the Vietnamese have understood the concept of sustainable tourism. They let too many tourists and boats into the bay. And we even weren't during high season. One can just hope, that they really preserve that beautiful site. Even though I've heard from some people, that Halong Bay is not worth a trip, I'm very happy I did it. It was definitely an unforgettable experience. And Hanoi is always worth a trip as well!
No comments:
Post a Comment