Introduction:

Time of year: Late October 2016

Purpose of trip: As part of our round the world trip, we were determined to see Halong Bay. In reality, that is best done by an overnight junk cruise.

Why we chose this place: Halong Bay is unlike anything else, with thousands of limestone mountains rising from the sea. This provides a stunning backdrop and a chance to view the unique lifestyles of the fishermen and their families who spend their entire life on the sea.

We chose the Dragon Legend II (operated by Indochine Junk), because it had great Tripadvisor reviews and it’s a large (therefore sociable) and luxurious (which we felt we needed at this stage in our trip) boat.

How long we stayed: We organised an extended trip with Indochine Junk which included an airport pickup, a night in the lovely Hanoi Pearl hotel, transport down to Halong and…