To see the beauty of Vietnam's northern coast, without the hoards of tourists, unregulated cruise ships, multiplying hotels, gigantic resorts and all the trash you will find nowadays at Ha Long Bay you can visit Lan Ha Bay instead. Part of me wanted to keep this a secret since the more people know about it the fuller and less beautiful…

Getting from Hanoi to Sapa is an adventure in itself. You basically have three choices: Bus, Private Van or Train. While you can book all three on the same platform, the prices, departure and arrival times and the experiences will vary greatly.

While in Sapa I divided my time between the city and a homestay with a Hmong family in Ta Van village near Sa Pa. They offer half-day and full-day trekking tours and two ethnic handicraft workshops to their guests: a Hmong Indigo Batik Workshop and a Traditional Hmong Embroidery Workshop. I choose to do both.

Always on the lookout for unique things to do and more things to learn I stumbled upon a silver smith workshop in Hanoi. In the silver crafting village Dinh Cong, about 30 minutes from the Old Quarter of Hanoi inside a community house this workshop takes you back to the time where Hanoi was still called Thang Long (1010).

Before I arrived in Vietnam I had never heard of Ninh Binh. I don’t know whether I was ignorant or if it feels like I see it everywhere now because I am paying attention to it. To tell the truth, I had no idea what to expect from this tour, but Ninh Binh really is a hidden gem of Vietnam.

Right after I booked my flights to Vietnam, I made a list of places I wanted to see. On top of that last list was Ha Long Bay; the Bay of the Descending Dragon, a UNESCO world heritage site known from National Geographic, with over 2000 limestone mountains emerging from emerald water. Since I stayed in Hanoi, a day trip seemed…