Day 6 - April 22

Halong - Hanoi

We ate a European style buffet breakfast aboard the boat in the Emeraude restaurant in Halong Bay. On our return to Hanoi we visited Ngoc Son temple and the Hoan Kiem Lake Museum of Fine Art. We had lunch atCha Ca la Vong, it is a 100 year old restaurant that serves only 1 item, grilled fish (seats only 50).

We took a pedicab tour around Ancient Town and enjoyed a theatrical genre reflecting the agriculture civilization of thousands of years ago named Water Puppet Show. We had dinner in Hanoi at Wild Lotus, a beautiful restaurant, fabulous food. This was Chef Khai's second visit to Wild Lotus.

Day 5 - April 21

Hanoi - Halong

On arrival in Hanoi, we ate breakfast in the hotel. After breakfast we departed to Ha Long. Ha Long means "where the dragon descent into the sea." When we arrived in Ha Long, we boarded the Emeraude Classic Cruise (chef shots) where we ate lunch.

Ha Long Bay is recognized as "A World Natural Heritage Site" by UNESCO. The beautiful Ha Long bay covers an area of 1,500 km with over 3000 islands and inlets, innumerable beaches and grottoes created by the wind and waves. We passed some of the most scenic locations including Yen Ngua, Con Coc Mountains and a floating village. The movie, "Indochine" with Catherine Deneuve was shot here.

We had a fabulous dinner prepared by Chef Theil on board and then turned in to our cabin for the night.

Day 4 - April 20

Sapa - Hanoi

After breakfast of fish and sticky rice at the Sapa Market , one of the H'Mong ladies was selling huge bundles of mushrooms. We then visited the Cat Village of the H'mong. After lunch, we visited Taphin village. The H'Mong are one of the minority peoples of Vietnam. They are known as the Red Giao and the Black Giao and often wear large hats in red or black. We visited the Sapa temple built by French in the 1800s. I sat with some of the local ladies in front of the Sapa temple in the fog.

We then boarded the night train to depart back to Hanoi. On the way, we stopped for dinner at the International Hotel. After dinner, we continued on the Victoria Train to Hanoi.