Exploring Ha Long Bay & Hanoi 🇻🇳 Is it worth visiting?!

This is northern Vietnam, home to one of the most famous cruises in the world. But is Ha Long Bay really worth the hype? We're setting sail to find out. Then it's onto the buzzing streets of Hanoi and a hidden countryside town you won't find in the guidebooks. Located about 170 kilometers east of Hanoi, we are making our way to Ha Long Bay. The journey starts early with complimentary hotel pickup at 8am. It's a two and a half hour drive to the bay with a rest stop at halfway. And pro tip guys, sit on the left side of the bus behind the driver to avoid the sun. By 11.30am we are at the port and we are boarding our home for the night by midday. We are on board with Mililux Cruise. Now this was all booked by my amazing tour company Realistic Asia via tour radar and they have made this whole thing seamless. Ha Long Bay translates into Descending Dragon Bay and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's deemed a must-do on just about any Vietnam itinerary. Now it's made up of around 2,000 limestone islands and they create this stunning scenery that we're going to get to explore over the next couple of days. But it isn't just gorgeous, it's also kind of magical. According to local folklore, a family of dragons descended on the bay to protect Vietnam from invaders, spitting out jade and jewels which transformed into these incredible islands. So while we're on board, all of our meals, that is our breakfast, our lunch and our dinner are included and we are trapped on this thing. So we need the food to be really good and it's time for lunch. This is absolutely beautiful. Standing on the top of this boat, just gliding past these limestone casts that were formed some 500 million years ago, it is spectacular. The water is so peaceful and calm and then you just have these jagged formations sticking out of the earth, all wild and raw. It is nothing short of stunning. Ha Long Bay is home to several pearl farms producing some of the finest pearls in the region. Now it is an art form that has been passed down through the generations and it starts with the careful cultivation of oysters in the bay's nutrient-rich waters. The farmers then implant a small bead or tissue into each of the oysters and cover it in a naturally occurring substance. From there they are carefully tended to over years. It can take between four and eight years to reduce one pearl and they have around a million here and each of them needs to be taken out of the water every month and sprayed down with a pressure hose. It is a lot of work but worth it. They are absolutely beautiful. We're about to visit one of Ha Long Bay's most stunning natural spots and apparently it is unmissable. But there's a good few hundred steps to get there so this thing better be worth it. Welcome to the Surprising Cave aka Sung Sot Cave. This was discovered in 1901 by French explorers and it covers an area of some 10,000 square meters and at its highest point the ceiling soars to 30 meters overhead. Whoa, it really is great in here. This for me is the whole reason to come out here to Ha Long Bay. This is what I think makes it worth it is just to sit here either on the top deck or on your balcony if you have one and watch that magical sunset. The light is beautiful and golden bouncing off each of those islands and they start to look otherworldly because they're all different colors and different shades. It's indescribable really but if for no other moment this one this one's my favorite moment. I tell you what you will not go hungry on this thing. It is time for dinner and they're serving up a five course feast including kind of a fiery pineapple spring roll display that I was really into. I am doing my best to eat as much of this as I can but there is so much food coming out. It's time for the main event. We've got a pan fried ha long sea bass. Yeah it's good and some fresh noodles. Oh let's dip that in the famous Vietnamese sauce. I know they're just plain noodles and that's really boring but they're so good. Good morning you guys. Look at this beautiful little coffee the boat staff have made me. I love the Vietnamese drip coffee. If you've never had one of these before it is like rocket fuel. If you love coffee it will change your life. You can get it with different kinds of milks in it. I like it either like this straight black or just a little bit of the condensed milk. It's amazing. Now this morning we had a couple of options. There was tai chi going on at a quarter past six. There was a trip over to the island happening where you could hike up 800 stairs to the top or you could go for a swim. I decided I wanted to sit on the deck of this boat completely empty because everyone else has taken off and just have a peaceful moment with you and enjoy some coffee while I tell you if I think it's worth doing a Ha Long Bay cruise or not. Now in terms of one night cruise or two night cruise I've done both. The one night is kind of fast and you don't go that far offshore. It's great and it's great taster but if you did have the time to do two nights you can do two nights and that'll take you to some other more secluded spots but the one night if that's all you have time for do it make it happen. I am gonna sit here and enjoy this delicious little cup of coffee for myself and then we are going to get all packed up and make our way back to Hanoi and dive straight into some exploring. Cheers! I can taste the moon that's how strong that is. Whoa! We are back in Hanoi. Now this is my favorite city in Vietnam and I am so excited to be able to show you why I love it here so much. Now my whole time here in Vietnam is part of a tour I'm doing with guys at Realistic Asia. They have been amazing. They take care of absolutely everything. Your flights, your hotels, your amazing tour guides, bus and train tickets and everything else in between. I am loving them. I highly recommend them. I'll have them linked in the video description below for you and I actually found them on Tour Radar. If you haven't heard of Tour Radar before they're also awesome. It's like a really great booking platform where you can find tours here in Asia, in anywhere in the world, any length, any destination. They have got you covered. I've been using them for years to book my tours and I absolutely love them. So I'll have both of those amazing companies linked in the video description for you. Right now we are making our way through the crazy streets of Hanoi, exploring it the best way possible, on a scooter tour. Are you serious? I am. What? Sometimes I find myself in these situations. We're making our way through the government district and right in front of me is Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. And behind me, the parliament. Hi, parliament. Oh, the presidential palace. Hi, president. It's me, Phoebe. And that's where the prime minister's working from. Hi, prime minister. Come for coffee with us. We've come to an amazing little spot called B52 Coffee and here to tell us all about B52 Coffee and the B52 part of it is our amazing guide, Chong. Yeah, hello. We are sitting here in the cafe B52 and right behind us, the wreckage of B52 bomber which was shot down in Hanoi in 1972 in the Vietnam War. That's crazy. Yeah. So we have the wreckage, part of the wreckage behind us in the pond. Then we've got the chicken noodle shop, B52 chicken noodle. And then the B52 cafe here, the industrious people of Hanoi have really taken advantage of it. And it's super local in here, right? Good. The thing you need to know about Vietnam is they know good coffee. They are the second largest exporter of coffee in the world behind Brazil, which is crazy. And the coffee here is sensational. I've got the coconut coffee. Let's give this a whirl. Yeah. Yeah. That is unbelievably good. Even though it's a cool day today, I'm still drinking this cold coffee. So it's all the lovely coconut milk, coconut cream, whatever they've got in there. Whisked up with some ice, that lovely Vietnamese coffee over the top. It is perfect. Hanoi's West Lake is not just beautiful. It's huge. If you wanted to do a full lap around the whole thing, you would come in an area of around 17 kilometers. Now, if you did want to enjoy it a little bit more and slow the pace down, there are some really cool cafes surrounding the outside, and it is the perfect place to come and enjoy the sunset. We've driven maybe five, 10 minutes outside the city and we're whizzing through these banana plantations, but it feels like we are a world away from Hanoi. And the crazy thing about it is we're driving through all of this farmland, all of these banana plantations, and you can still see the skyscrapers of Hanoi in the background. You guys know I have a sweet tooth and apparently they're selling a delicious and authentic local sweet in here, so you know we got to try it. It does not get more local than this, my friends. Apparently this place gets a lot more popular later in the day. We're here in the morning. The menu here is completely in Vietnamese. You're going to need a guide or Google Translate to help you out. Let me break it down for you. It's something called caramel with a coconut sauce, and then you choose your toppings. Different options available. Sticky rice, fruit, jelly, all kinds of different things. And then there's one called everything. I got the everything. I figured if we're gonna go for it, we should go for it. This is the everything. Visually, if we're honest, two out of ten. Looks wise. Flavor, I'm hoping is a 10 out of 10. Okay, I'm not getting everything. You get some jelly to start with, I think. I like that. I like that a lot. It's sweet, but it's not crazy sweet. Okay, that's a more successful scoop. It's delicious. I really like that. It doesn't look like much, but it packs a punch. Wow. For accommodation here in Hanoi, I am staying right in the heart of Hanoi's old quarter at the Silk Path Luxury Hotel. This location is fantastic. It puts you just steps away from the city's best street food, buzzing markets, and historic sites. Inside, the hotel blends modern elegance with Vietnamese charm. The rooms are stylish and comfortable with super plush beds, sleek decor, and all the amenities you'd expect from a really high quality stay. I have loved my stay here and would definitely recommend. Shout out to my tour company for finding this spot. It's been awesome. I'll have links in the video description so you can check it out and book your stay too. Nestled near the Ba Vi National Park, the two villages that we're going to be exploring today are around an hour and a half drive from the heart of Hanoi. It is a picturesque community with lush rice paddies and rolling green hills, but it isn't just beautiful. A big part of magic here and what makes this area so special is the people who warmly welcome visitors like us into their homes and to experience their way of life. I am absolutely loving this experience. It is so beautiful out here and for all the times I visited Hanoi, I have never done anything like this. And it's a really cool thing for us to do as visitors, to come out and support the local communities a little bit, see how they live and understand their way of life. And I have to tell you, they are working extremely hard, listening to their stories about how they're tending to this farm and how they only have three people to do it. I honestly don't know how they're doing it. This is a huge undertaking and it is a privilege to be here and get to see and experience it and be a part of it, even just for a few hours. After picking the tea leaves, they will bring the tea leaves here for drying. But there will be some steps in the middle. And now we go to the second step. With the ring, the tea leaves will be put in the oven. Thank you. We say that when we drink beer or wine. Not tea, like an animal. Means to your health. To your health. I'm going to try some tea homegrown by this lovely gentleman. That's incredible. With a little bit of honey in it. Perfectly sweet. That's really nice. It is an absolute privilege to be welcomed into this man's home. It's an incredible experience. I think one of the things I appreciate most about travel is what I get to learn. And there's no education quite like it. To be able to sit in the home of a Vietnam veteran, a man who began fighting in the war when he was 17 years old and was in Saigon on the day the war ended to see the last battle, to hear the stories come from him and see his photos and see his medals. It is so impactful. And he said something so powerful. He said that he has welcomed US veterans into his home as well. And he's welcomed them with open arms because between them, they don't want to fight each other. They want peace. I think there's so much power in that to welcome people into your home with such love after being in a position that I can only imagine the horrors that they all had to see. But to be able to sit here and have the absolute privilege of meeting him and listening to his story is invaluable to me. And I really appreciate it. Thank you for having me. We have made our way into the Moc Village and been welcomed into the home of another amazing local family. And they are teaching us some of the cooking traditions that have been passed down to their families for generations. Now we're going to be making some spring rolls. And for me, I think of spring rolls as being a really basic food, but here they're not. It's a special occasion food. So it's a big deal for us to be making them say we had a demonstration. And now we're about to get hands on. And I say we because I made some friends. New friends from the US and from Toronto. You know how much we love Toronto. It's time for my favorite part of the cooking class, the eating. This is where I really excel. This is the dipping sauce. If you come to Vietnam, you're going to see the sauce everywhere. We've just learned how to make it and I'm obsessed with it. Oh, lovely veggie spring rolls. Those are so good. The filling is so tasty. Outside is so nice and crunchy. This is the salad we just made. So you've got all your freshly shredded up vegetables. Oh, yes. What I love about Vietnamese food is it's such a good blend of taste and texture. This is so fresh and crunchy and juicy and bursting with flavor. You also get some fresh spring rolls. Mmm. All right, you guys. And with that, that brings this week's episode to a close. I really hope you've enjoyed it. Now, if you don't already, be sure to subscribe right now so you never miss a single episode and say hello in the comments below. I hope you have a great weekend and I will see you with a brand new episode next week. Love ya!