The Streets of Hanoi, Vietnam

The author has an unforgetable experience when she arrived Hanoi.

A barbershop on the streets of Hanoi

It’s an act of faith! Crossing the street in the city of Hanoi in Vietnam is an experience I will never forget.

The roads are literally wall to wall traffic. Motorcycles, bicycles, rickshaws, cars, hand carts, buses, cars, mopeds, taxis and trucks whiz by in a blur of color and motion. There are very few traffic lights and I quickly learned that the ones which do exist are just for decoration.

Ha Long Bay: one of the world’s natural wonders

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism said on October 8 that Ha Long Bay has been ranked as one of the 150 most beautiful natural wonders in the world by a French leading e-magazine.

Indochina Sails on Halong bay

An article portraying Ha Long Bay – a world natural heritage, was published in September in the Voyager (tourism) column of L’Internaute magazine.

The article noted that apart from its thousands of charming islands and beautiful caves, Ha Long Bay is also home to a wide biodiversity that includes eco-systems like mangrove forests, coral reefs and tropical forests.

The Bay, twice recognized by UNESCO for its landscape and geological value, has advanced to the final stage of a campaign to vote for the world’s seven new natural wonders by the NewOpenWorld.

It currently ranks 4th out of the 28 successful landscapes in terms of votes.

Vietnam is making an effort to promote and preserve the Bay to encourage the community, especially friends across the world to vote for it.

Reported by: VOVnews

Recommended for vessels on Halong bay, Vietnam:

Indochina Sails: info@indochinasails.com

Website:http://www.indochinasails.com

Mid-Autumn Children's Festival, Vietnam

Mid-Autumn Children's Festival or Tet Trung Thu is a wonderful time to visit Vietnam. The festivities last for several days and there is singing and shouting. Children wear masks, parade happily in the streets and bang their drums. Parents buy lanterns and toys for their children and prepare their favorite dishes. Special cakes are made and exchanged, and fruits are plentiful.

Full Moon Festival in luxury cruise on Halong bay


The festival is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, the day of the first full moon closest to the autumn equinox when the moon is at its fullest. The autumn equinox always falls on September 23. This year, the Children's Festival will occur on October 8. At the spring and autumn equinoxes the duration of day and night is equal and the sun appears directly overhead at noon at the equator. After September 23 the days become shorter and the nights grow longer.

Cruising in Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay in the northern province of Quang Ninh has thousands of islands and many beautiful areas.

Cruise on Ha Long bay by Indochina Sails

For nearly a decade, the nominee for a Natural Wonder of the World title has attracted more tourists since the bridge linking Bai Chay (Chay Beach) and Hon Gai (Gai Islet) was built.

In the bay area, there are many caves, beaches, restaurants, hotels and entertainment sites. Among its well-known scenic spots and tourist sites are Thien Cung, Dau Go and Trinh Nu caves, and Ti Top, Tuan Chau and Ba Trai Dao beaches.

Cruises on Halong Bay

Northern Vietnam’s climate is tropical. The dry season is cool, and lasts from October to April, while the wet season, from May to September, is warmer. The average temperature is 23°C.

Hanoi is not only the country’s capital but also the cultural centre of Vietnam. A modern city, it is home to over 600 pagodas and temples and offers visitors a chance to experience the culture and history within a constantly bustling urban setting.

From Hanoi, visitors can embark on an overnight train heading further north into the mountains of Sapa. Trekking through the breathtaking scenery over natural waterfalls, rice paddy fields and wild bamboo forests, you can also stay overnight in a traditional Vietnamese long house hosted by one of the many hill tribe families.

If you head east for three hours from Hanoi, you will reach Halong City, your gateway to the awe-inspiring Halong Bay, the treasure piece of Vietnam. Listed with UNESCO, this pristine turquoise bay comprises of almost 2,000 islands, and it is picturesque from every angle.

Explore Halong Bay

Ever since I saw the movie "Indochine," I've wanted to visit Ha Long Bay. I loved the haunting scenes where Camille and Jean Baptiste, her beloved French soldier (originally her adoptive mother's lover - it's a French film after all) float through the islands in a small junk. Camille's just killed a French soldier, they're fleeing the French army, and they're without food or water and are barely conscious, but it's all terribly romantic, like they are the last two people on earth, together at last.

My Ha Long Bay journey was not exactly cut from the same cloth. I was about 60 years too late for the sexy French soldiers. I took a package tour on a junk like everyone else, since it's the easiest and cheapest way to see Ha Long Bay from Hanoi. After researching a few companies

and reading lots of stories on-line about nightmare trips, I booked a 3 day/2 night trip with Active Travel Vietnam.

Halong Bay

The first leg of the journey was a 3 hour bus ride through the North Vietnamese countryside where highly industrial meets pre-industrial. After we left the urban sprawl of Hanoi, the road was lined with giant factory complexes. Our guide proudly pointed them out as examples of recent foreign investment. In between the factories, in between the houses, and seemingly in every available scrap of land are the green, green rice fields. Huge power lines tower over them, factories abut them, towns surround them, but the rice fields do not yield. Vietnam is the second biggest exporter of rice (next to Thailand), and that’s after the immense amounts of rice consumed by a domestic market of 85 million people. It’s a lot of rice.

Halong Bay–The Most Beautiful Place on Earth

Just got back from Halong Bay this afternoon and it was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful–even more than I expected. We left at around 8am from the hostel and were picked up by Active travel Vietnam _ the tour company that we’d booked with. We picked up 6 others, a Scottish couple living in Malaysia and a pair of couples from Spain. We then departed for Halong Bay, about a 3 and 1/2 hour drive. We also then met our tour guide Ngoan, a slim young woman who spoke pretty good English. She was no Wasa though! She briefed us on Hanoi and Halong Bay history and then told us about where to go in Hanoi to find good dog and cat meat. (We weren’t too interested). And she told us about how Vietnamese people like to string up live cobras from trees, skin them, and then drink their blood while it’s still hot from the dangling end, like some kind of bizarre tribal beer bong. Yummy.

An ode to Ha Long Bay on Indochina sails cruise

It was my fourth visit to Ha Long Bay, but the first time my mother and I could together float on the sea, from sunset to sunrise on a large wooden junk.
by Cam Giang

Follow the leader: Holidaymakers explore limestone rock formations in Ha Long Bay. Kayaking is just one of many activities tour operators offer in the area. — Photos courtesy Indochina Sails

A new paradise aboard with Indochina Sails

Ha Long – a Unesco World Heritage site and one of the world’s most spectacular natural wonders- may have never been easier and more comfortable to discover with INDOCHINA SAILS. Let’s get aboard.

The boarding time is 11h 30 am. Passengers are welcomed with smiles and the sound of drums. The friendly staff provide each with a fresh cool tower and a welcome drink to refresh after a long travelling distance. One hour to take a short rest before lunch at magnificient seascape.

This traditional junk is special from its materials to decoration. It is made by Aroma woods, a relaxing perfume living in every corner of the ship. With 15 air-conditioned rooms of twin, double and single, Each room is luxuriously and neatly decorated in 4 star style. It is a truly perfect paradise for those who travel in couple, with friends or alone.