The first day travelling to Hanoi was amazingly fun. On the second day, we planned to make a boat trip to Ha Long Bay in two days. It took 3-4 hours to cross the 150 km distance from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay. The area between the two was fairly rural full of countryside with lots of rice fields along the way, the rice fields are such a vibrant green and it's lovely seeing so much produce being grown! Finally had my favourite Vietnamese dish Pho before the boat trip, which consists of a vegetable rice noodle soup that's super aromatic and full of flavour! And for only 35,000 Dong it equates to just over £1 so much much cheaper than wagamamas!

At the port, we took a wooden long boat out into the water to then board the larger boat we would be spending the next two days on, our boat only housed 12 guests but each cabin was complete with en suites, large beds and even air con! Going to bed felt strange knowing I was still in Ha Long Bay, surrounded by sea and a few other small cruise ships!

Day 1's itinerary consisted of a rather large lunch and dinner, both traditional Vietnamese dishes which were all exquisite! Being in Vietnam means an abundance of fresh seafood, so dinner included prawns, shrimps, squid and even clams, which were definitely my favourite! We visited caves and beaches in Ha Long Bay as well as doing some night fishing for squid which was really exciting to learn!

Ha Long Bay itself has some fascinating scenery, with hundreds of small islands scattered across the bay. There's a lot of greenery as well with most of the islands covered in huge leafy trees, the weather tends to be fairly cloudy in the North of Vietnam making a very hazy landscape which can look quite eery in the early mornings seeing these grey and cloudy islands in the very distance.

Another 6am start on the second day with a early breakfast followed by some kayaking into the caves and around the areas inhabited by monkeys! The whole of Ha Long Bay is always so peaceful minus the noise of a few passing boats, making kayaking in the early morning really tranquil, sometimes it's worth getting up early to really make the most of the day! We had our final lunch on the boat before making our way back to the port then onto Hanoi.

This was our last evening in the capital before setting off on a night train from Hanoi to Danang, 16 hour train trip in total! Hope for another excited day in our Vietnam trip package!