Out of Norm Travels

Cruise along Ha Long Bay -  Vietnamese:  Vịnh Hạ Long , literally means 'Descending Dragon Bay' is  one of the UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site  in Quảng Ninh Province, Vietnam which is a  3 hour transfer from Hanoi to the Habour The official information from Wikipedia is that Hạ Long Bay has an area of around 1,553 km 2 , including 1,960–2,000 islets, most of which are limestone which has undergone 500 million years of formation in different conditions and environments. The geo-diversity of the environment in the area has created biodiversity, including a tropical evergreen biosystem, oceanic and sea shore biosystem. There are many cruise operators that you can choose from as Ha long bay is one of the most popular tourist destinations when you come to Vietnam. Choosing Pelican Cruises over the rest is easy as it is one of the newest 4-star cruises (operations started in 2012) sailing in Ha Long Bay. I was really pleased that it is relatively small sized with 22 ca

Sapa , is a frontier town and capital of Sa Pa District in Lào Cai Province in northwest Vietnam . I had the privilege to spend 3 days 2 nights at this location which can be reached via Hanoi , the capital of Vietnam (where international flights connect into the country). I heard that there is a new highway that was recently built that links Hanoi to Sapa which takes a mere 5 hours (and at less expense). But for my trip, I took the longer route (and to me, more authentic way of travelling within Southeast Asia i.e. by train) which required 8 hours train travel from Hanoi to Lao Cai. For the way down to Sapa, I took the Livitrain Express Train that departed from Hanoi at around 9p.m. before reaching Lao Cai at 5.30a.m. For the train ride back from Lao Cai to Hanoi, I took a different train service which is the Sapaly Express Train that departed at 8p.m. and reached Hanoi around 4a.m. I will highly recommend the Sapaly Express Train as it wins hands down even though it’s sl