Day 5 - Hanoi

With me still struggling with jet lag and Craig up until 5am watching spurs, today was the perfect day for a 7am start for a day trip! Our first stop was Ninh Binh - the ha long bay on land and one of the set locations for King Kong Skull Island. Our incredibly sweet driver for the day was Dung (pronounced Zung) and although he didn't speak a word of English, we had great chats for the whole 2 hour journey via Google translate (it's hands free, don't worry mum).

When we arrived at Ninh Binh we jumped in a rickety rowing boat with a tiny Vietnamese lady who seamlessly rowed us through caves and around breathtaking limestone structures for three whole hours. The longest cave was Dot cave and we were rowing through it for almost five minutes, having to duck down frequently to avoid being knocked out. Although it was really misty and a bit drizzly the views were still great.

Dung picked us up for lunch and took us to his favourite goat restaurant (which had a pretty tourist friendly menu so I was fine too). Enough said about that!

The next stop of the tour was viewpoint Đầm sen Hang múa. We climbed 400 stairs to get to the top and definitely aren't as young as we used to be (calves were killing the next day). The view from the top was incredible. Again the weather was pretty grey and misty but the views still well worth the climb!

When we finally arrived back in Hanoi we headed straight out to grab the last bit of street food - Bun Cha for Craig and a Banh Mi for me. It was then straight back to pack to Meritel for one final drink on the rooftop with our favourite barman Harry who told us all about life in Vietnam in the COVID years and how he still managed to avoid the lockdowns to party with his friends!!

A great final day in Hanoi. A crazy place but full of charm and excitement!Read more