MangoVine
Adventures in East Asia

Entries in Vietnam

 16 March, 2009
Monday Ha Long Bay Part 2 - Thien Cung Cave
On the cruise, straight after leaving the quay, we headed directly to our first stop - an island containing two of the most beautiful caves (apparently) in Ha Long Bay. It was a stretch taking about half an hour (4 kilometres), during which time we could see a dispersed fleet of boats of all sizes leaving the docks and making a beeline towards the same island.

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It was a bit disconcerting to see so many boats heading out and then docking on the island and even more so to see the hordes of (mainly older - for some reason) tourists disembarking and shuffling their way along the path to head up, pass a few kiosks, to the first cave.

Read more... 16 March, 2009
Monday Ha Long Bay Part 1 - The Famous Cruise
Ha Long Bay, recommended by friends and recognised by UNESCO in 1994 as a World Natural Heritage site, is what we came to the north of Vietnam for.

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Ha Long Bay, which literally translates as "Descending Dragon bay", is located in the Quang Ninh province of northeastern Vietnam. The bay has a 120 kilometre long coastline and is approximately 1553 square kilometres in size, featuring thousands of limestone karsts and about 2000 isles in various sizes and shapes, some of which are named and consequently made famous.

Read more... 15 March, 2009
Sunday Excellent Views from Van Hai Hotel at Ha Long
After staying in Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi rooms that echo the passing engines and horns from the streets below, Ha Long seemed to promise the complete opposite with an almost empty set of streets (well, we did arrive at night). Our guide told us that Ha Long was now divided into two areas - one for tourism and another for all the civil and government buildings.

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We drove alongside the bay until we reached the Van Hai hotel which is next to the new and impressive Bai Chay bridge.

Read more... 15 March, 2009
Sunday Hai Phong City and Ha Long Night Market
During our drive from Ninh Binh (where we took the Tam Coc Sampan trip) to Ha Long, we passed through Nam Dinh, Thai Bing and Hai Phong City. The latter is Vietnam's biggest sea port and has alot of white rock used in the manufacture of cement. Hai Phong City also has alot of coal and so altogether the place had much more of an industrial feel than previous rural areas of Vietnam that we'd already seen.

Read more... 15 March, 2009
Sunday Vietnamese Snake Wine with Massive Cobras!
Love alcohol? How about with a venomous snake in the mix?! I've known of wine containing reptiles and animals before. In Hong Kong, our grandmother once gave a bottle of wine and baby mice to an aunt to recover from a pregnancy although she did take the mice out first.

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In Vietnam, we've so far only come across some smaller bottles containing reptiles. However, during our journey from Ninh Binh to Ha Long, we made a stop off at a roadside cafe/shop for some bitter green tea and to pick up some traditional green bean cakes and came across some massive specimens.

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