Hanoi and Halong Bay

After two days in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, we were heading off for Hanoi. We got on a small plane of Lao Air for the 1 hour 10 min flight. At Hanoi airport we were met by a "driver", holding our name up, who took us to the guest house that we booked in advance. The drive took 45min and we got our first experience of Hanoi traffic - complete scooter madness!!
The air is thick with smells and noise and the weather damp and humid with about 15°C.
The next day we booked a trip to Halong Bay. We arrived in the harbour of Halong City after a 3,5hour drive in a Minibus, with hundreds of other groups and people trying to catch the right boat. Our small group eventually got on a boat and set off into the Bay. As it was still quite misty, Halong Bay was only showing us its mysterious side...

After lunch that was served on the boat, we stopped to visit a cave that is on one of the bigger islands. The cave has three parts of which all are connected, with very interesting formations of rocks inside. The cave is huge and actually very impressive, we both have never seen such a big one before.

We booked a night train from Hanoi to Hué for the next day at 19 o'clock. The weather was even more unpleasant, rainy and windy, and we were already looking forward to get some sun in Hué and Hoi An, our next two destinations.
But despite of the weather we took a pedalriksha to the Temple of Literature. This was dedicated to Confucius in 1070 by Emperero Ly Thanh Tong. Later on it was a university for the education of mandarins.
It's a well-preserved area in traditional Vietnamese architecture in 11th-century style with roofed gateways and low-eaved buildings. Very pretty!

We headed to the station in the evening in good time to catch our train. The train was not quite as comfy and service-friendly as the one in Thailand... no dinner, no breakfast, but nice people in our compartment. Diana and Palmira from Buones Aires were good fun and we talked and played cards until late what made time go by.