HANOI – HALONG – HANOI FOR ASIAN

Meals: Lunch and Dinner at local restaurant

Accommodations: at hotel

Transfer: Private vehicle

Activities for today:

You are warmly welcomed by our tour guide at the airport, transferred directly to Halong Bay. Have lunch at local restaurant on road. Free time in Halong, dinner at restaurant and fee to explore the night life of The world heritage city. Overnight in Halong City.

Meals: Breakfast at hotel, Lunch on boat and Dinner at local restaurant

Accommodations: at hotel

Transfer: Private vehicle and boat

Activities for today:

After breakfast at hotel, 08:00AM take a boat trip to visit Halong bay, the world heritage site of Vietnam, Cruising around to see a lots of islands and islets including cook fighting island. Stop to visit Thien Cung Or Dau Go caves, enjoy lunch on boat then back to Hanoi, stop on the way for shopping. Arrive Hanoi, attend water puppet show. Overnight in Hanoi.

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+ Thien Cung cave: It is situated on the south-west side the bay, 4 km from the wharf outside of Ha Long City. The way to Thiên Cung is a perilous one, covered on both sides by thick forest. After entering a narrow gate, the grotto’s 130-meter-long girth opens up. Getting in we are more astonished in front of the very animated and splendid beauty which is made from stalactite. On the east wall of the grotto, there is a grandiose and imposing picture with characters of tales.

Going out of the Thiên Cung Grotto, we have a sensation of just watching a unique, meticulous, interesting fine-art museum which is made by nature, get out of the imagine, ability and intellect of man.

This grotto is recently discovered, one of the most beautiful grottoes in Ha Long Bay.

+ Dau Go Cave: The grotto is on Driftwood Island. Seen from afar, the entrance to the grotto appears to be blue, and has a shape similar to that of a jellyfish. After 90 steps up the island, the entrance is reached. The ceiling of the grotto is about 25 m. Hundreds of stalactites falling down from the roof of the grotto look like a waterfall. The grotto is divided into three main parts.

The exterior is a room with a vault full of natural light. Many forms may be seen in the rock formations of the chamber, depending on the imagination of the visitor of course.

Crossing the first chamber, one enters the second chamber through a narrow passage. The light here is mysterious, and new images appear in the stone. It makes us having a fear and be inquisitive.

The third chamber of the grotto is widely opened. At the end of the grotto is a well of clear water. Looking up in the dim light we recognize that surrounded is the image of an ancient citadel and a scuffle of elephants, horses, man with bristly sword and spear. All are making a rush and be petrified suddenly.

+ Water Puppet Show: It is a tradition that dates back as far as the 11th century CE when it originated in the villages of the Red River Delta area of northern Vietnam.

Meals: Breakfast at hotel, Lunch and Dinner local restaurant

Transfer: Private vehicle

Activities for today: This morning, spent some leisure time on Ba Dinh Square, site of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Later, visit Ho Chi Minh's House on Stilts and the nearby One Pillar Pagoda, Temple of Literature-the first university of Vietnam. After lunch, free time for shopping all afternoon. Enjoy farewell dinner before taking a drive to the airport, end trip.

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Note: Please note that the HCM Mausoleum is closed on Fridays and Mondays and most museums are closed on Mondays.

+ Ba Dinh Square: It is the name of a famous square in Hanoi where president Ho Chi Minh read the Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2, 1945. It is named after the Ba Dình Uprising, an anti-French rebellion that occurred in Vietnam in 1886–1887 as part of the Can Vuong movement. When Ho Chi Minh died, the granite Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum was built here to display his embalmed body. It remains a major site of tourism and pilgrimage.

+ Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum: It holds the embalmed remains of Ho Chi Minh. Visiting the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is a highlight for many locals' visits to the capital, and very few Vietnamese visiting Hanoi pass up a chance for a pilgrimage to the place where Vietminh leader Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence. It is closed every Monday and Friday, November and December closed for maintain.

+ Ho Chi Minh's House on Stilts: It is the house president Ho Chi Minh lived on and off from 1958 to 1969. It was constructed by the official French architect for Vietnam. Like most French Colonial architecture, the palace is pointedly European. The house is an interpretation of a traditional rural dwelling, and has been preserved just as Ho left it.

+ One Pillar Pagoda: It is a Buddhist temple in the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex near Ba Dinh Square, a replica of an older temple that was built in 1049 and destroyed in 1954.It is regarded alongside the Perfume Temple, as one of Vietnam's two most iconic temples.

+ Temple of Literature: It is a temple of Confucius in Hanoi. The temple hosts the "Imperial Academy", Vietnam's first national university. The various pavilions, halls, statues and stelae of doctors are places where offering ceremonies, study sessions and the strict exams of the Dai Viet took place.