Day 135 – Halong Bay to Hanoi
A glorious day between limestone islands
Today we woke up on the Apricot Premium Cruise ship to clear skies over Halong Bay. We were expecting fog like yesterday, but we were thankful for the change in weather. The water looked so clear that we could see limestone islands all around. It was beautiful.
After breakfast, we took the small boat to an Oyster Farm in the middle of the bay. It looked like the staff live on the farm itself. Here they take you through the process of creating pearls. It actually sounded quite brutal, so my wife appears to be put off from pearls.
From the Oyster Farm, we were able to get on tandem kayaks and venture on the water. The water was calm, and I must say, I like this more than almost drowning in Koh Rong Samloem, Cambodia (Day 112). You can get as close as you dare to the limestone islands in the area. It was one of the highlights of the entire cruise.
Once back on the Apricot Premium Cruise ship, we had the final activity, which was a cooking lesson. It wasn’t anything extreme, as we just learnt how to assemble rice paper rolls. The rolls were easy to assemble, the trick is how to make them look good, which I failed at.
My attempt at Rice Paper Rolls
After this, we headed to shore and said good bye to the staff and other guests. The cruise includes transfers back to a hotel in Hanoi. Overall, even though the cost was high, the experience was well worth it, in my opinion. We arrived at the Rising Dragon Palace Hotel, where we had booked interconnecting rooms again. Essentially, we got two amazing rooms and a corridor that we could lock off all to ourselves. It was pretty cool.
After settling in, we walked to the market and walking street around the Ta Hien Beer Street / Hanoi Old Quarter. The area was so crowded with locals and a handful of tourists. It was super lively and a world apart from the tranquil waters of Halong Bay.
We then had a fancy dinner at Essence Restaurant. The food was delicious and the staff were excellent. Dinner was expensive, but we had a few things to celebrate between the four of us, so it was well worth it.
(For my wife. Dub dub dub =P)