Thursday, October 6, 2016

Hanoi Trip# Last Day - "GROTTE DES SUPRISES"-

3/9/2016
Saturday
This is the captain of our cruise... 
We were introduced to him only on the day of departure... all this while he was handling the cruise in his little cabin in front of the boat, unnoticed by all of us... a big round of applause for a job well done to bring us safely back to the mainland. 

Woke up early as I tried to catch the sunrise...

this was all the sunrise that I managed to catch on photos..everything still quiet and peaceful 


The chef preparing breakfast for us... 

After breakfast, we were taken by speed boat to the island of the Surprise cave..

Sorry my photos did not do credit to the beauty of the cave..too dark!
Sung sot Cave is one of the largest and most spectacular caves in Halong Bay located on the Bo Hon Island. The cave has 2 chambers. As you enter the outer chamber you will be awe by the high ceiling and wide space and thousands of stalactites and stalagamites and these rock formations really stretches your imagination as the guide pointed them out. 







the inner chamber is so huge that it is said to be able to hold thousands of people at a time. 

 
the rock formation of a turtle  in the foreground...

natural light flowing in from the mouth of the grotto

Looking down from the entrance of the cave at 25m above sea level... that's where all the boats converge and the journey to the cave begin.  It was a really good morning excursion.

We were taken back to the cruise for our lunch prior to departure. 

While waiting for lunch, the chef gave us a lesson on vegetable carving.  

No problem guessing which were done by the chef and us... hahaha.
After a light lunch including fresh spring rolls (sorry, photos were missing), it was time to bid adieu to the crew and captain and our BEST guide for the cruise.
We checked back into the same hotel for the night. The holidays was in full celebration and the whole city area were closed for traffic and there was a huge night market going on.  After our dinner, we wandered along the night market, had Vietnamese beer at the famous Beer Street, was too full to join the Vietnamese for their hot-pot/BBQ stalls but we managed to get these..... 


Vietnamese coffee...

The next morning the driver took us to the airport for our flight back to KL. 
Bun Cha- noddles with grilled pork in dipping sauce @ the airport..


6 comments:

  1. I love the view of caves like this as they have unique and natural beauty. Their formations often amazed me.

    I hope you will always practice the vegetable carvings since you baked and cooked so well. My late mum, being a Thai often carved the fruits when serving the guests. It made the fruits tasted better! Ha ha

    I took the boat cruise along Tokyo River and also didn;t pay attention to the captain until the end when he emerged to bow. The aunties were in love with his handsome face in smart uniform and selfie with him too. LOL

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  2. Thanks Twilight Man. I hope I will use the carvings one day...hahaha but for everyday meals, just serve simple only..

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  3. what an impressive sets of photos. Can make into blog template jor as they are so beautiful

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    1. Never mind, I am really not technically incline! (read stupid when it comes to these computer things) haha. Just for my own memories.

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  4. Hi Elaine, thanks for sharing your holiday pictures. Nice scenery.

    Have a great week, regards.
    Amelia

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