Vietnam - Tuan Chau Island, Halong Bay - April 2013

Tuan Chau Island was where our Paradise luxury cruise boats are moored.  We did not know what to expect of our overnight accommodation on Halong Bay as we had been told we would be staying on one of the junks overnight out on the bay.

We were pleasantly surprised when we were led onto our cruise ship which was three stories high with an upper viewing deck as well.  The top floor was a restaurant and bar the the rooms were on the bottom two floors.

We only took overnight bags with us to save on transporting all of our golf clubs and suitcases just for an overnight stay.  The hotel in Hanoi put our luggage in security for us until we got back.

Vietnam - Tuan Chau Island, Halong Bay back to Hanoi - April 2013

We had a wonderful overnight stay on Halong Bay arriving back at Tuan Chau Island about 11 o'clock.  We travelled via our tour bus back to Hanoi along a rater bumpy highway.  You can see a photo above of some of the narrow houses built that way to save on Land Tax.  The tax is charged on the width of the landholding and not on the depth so most of the homes are double story but only one room wide.  There were a lot of road side stalls that were open to the heat and weather.  It would be a hard way to earn a living.
We arrived back in Hanoi in time to do some shopping and have our last dinner in Hanoi before flying out to Dalat the next day.