Last month my husband and I visited Vietnam.

We decided on more North because Southern areas have monsoon this time year.

It took us a while to decide on location as Vietnam is quite vast and there’s quite a journey to travel between landmarks etc..
So bear that in mind- be prepared to travel around.

We decided on Hanoi, a busy city and an easy location to get to from the airport.

Our route from London took us to Singapore, which is our favorite connecting hot spot for journeys to the far east.

I’d highly recommend Changi Airport as its super clean, well organised and plus there’s plenty of shops and restaurants to pass the time between connections.

Once we’d landed in Hanoi and collected our luggage we made our journey to the city.

We chose The Old Quarter area of Hanoi as it  is a great area for shopping and hotels .

We stayed at the La Siesta Trendy hotel.
I have to say the staff were great and really went out of their way .
Rooms were clean and the food at the restaurant were pretty good too.

Hanoi as a whole is your typical bustling Asian city.
We enjoyed walking around the busy streets and experiencing everyday life.
This is the best way to see the city by far so take an old pair of trainers or flip flops- definitely comfort over style!

You will see what locals sell like meat, locally made goods and clothing.

Be prepared for some unusual sights, some of which you may find uncomfortable ( I’m talking food) Oh and haggle with the sellers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ha Long Bay

The highlight of our trip was definitely Ha Long Bay.

Although we only spent 1.5 days here and 2 nights, it was amazing.

They call Ha Long Bay one of the new wonders of the world and it really is something incredible!

Ha Long Bay will take you around 3-4 hours by road traffic depending. It’s well worth it.
We hired a driver which our hotel organised.
It was very reasonable and much more pleasant than sitting on a bus full of people.

We stayed at the Vin Pearl Resort Ha Long Bay ,
And I just have to say how luxurious this hotel was – I mean- oh Wow!

So it’s on it’s own island and you take a little boat across the water to the resort , just so cute!
The hotel is beautiful, quite regal and I felt kinda under dressed for a while in my travelling attire !
But it’s really quite a relaxed atmosphere which I loved as I hate that over posh feeling that some hotels give out you know?

The grounds were immaculate, the pool food and cocktails really hit the spot! And the beach was just beautiful!

May I just add that it was extremely quiet at this time (1pm) as most guests were out seeing the sights, so we basically had the whole place to ourselves! not bad .

After we rested over a swim, sauna then a private dinner on the jetty (highly recommend) we slept like logs in our perfectly posh room.

Most guests had the buffet dinner but we were happy to have a private dining experience that was very reasonably priced.

 

 

 

Then next day I was so excited as we had hired a junk boat to tour us around Ha Long Bay.

Picking us up in the morning we headed over to the main port to board our boat.

It takes around 30 mins to arrive among the incredible rock formations.

Its breathtaking, and I was in absolute awe of its beauty.

The day consisted of kayaking among caves  to which we encountered a huge fish which we believe to be a catfish- don’t worry you stay inside your kayak or boat so there’s no danger!
Such a fun experience.

We also went to the ‘surprising cave’ named after it’s surprising size and beauty.

We also stopped at Ti Top Island where we climbed the many steps to the top.
It was tiring but totally worth it as you have a breathtaking view of Ha Long in all its beauty.
We also swam off the small beach here.

I was sad to leave this piece of Nirvana.
It is a memory that I will keep forever.

The next day we headed back to Hanoi and soaked up as much as the

city we could before heading back to London.

Another adventure, over too quickly…

 

K
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