It was another early morning to visit what the Vietnamese call 'the amazing cave'. Once we got there I understood why they called it that. It really w...
We spent our first night on our small cruise ship on Halong Bay. Unfortunately our boat was next to a party boat with bright flashing purple lights so...
We returned to Vietnam for about a week on 23rdMarch to explore the northern capitol Hanoi and visit the magical Halong Bay. Boy were we in for a treat! Hanoi is the capitol city of Vietnam and returning there after the protected peaceful retreat in Luang Prabang was a shock to the system initially. It is a very busy place but the thing to note was the traffic. This was something to behold in the southern city of Saigon too but everything seemed amplified in good old Hanoi. I haven’t mentioned the traffic too much so far but here was on the extreme end.
We got off at the port which was set in a new development of apartments, a kind of theme park and a dolphin show arena. We skated across the rain slicked floor and out to the water side, where we boarded a smallish boat to take us out to The Opera Cruise boat (our upgraded treat!).
After lots of research and horror stories, we booked a bit of a mid to upper range cruise in Halong bay, the problem with this becoming evident as we got on our nice spacious minibus to Halong Bay. The bus was full of families, older couples and no other English people. Now don't get us wrong, we don't want to spend all our time with other English people, but the language barrier was problematic!
Anyway, when we finally arrived at Halong bay we got on to a boat to do a cruise around the various islands. There are over 2,000 limestone islands he...
I have been to Halong many times since childhood but the most unforgettable trip there with me is on Halong Phoenix Cruiser. I had the tour months ago but still, memories are fresh.
Halong Bay which has been designated as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1994, is one of the most beautiful places on earth which abounds with natural beauty.
Before I moved to Vietnam, one of the things that most impressed me about the country were pictures I had seen of Ha Long Bay.
One of the amazing sights of Halong Bay are the houses on the water. The photos below are evidence of their existence.
Three hours cramped into a mini van, we arrived at the coast where Ha Long City nestled. Had a simple but yummy lunch (part of the tour package) in one of the restaurants.
Having spent three nights amid the chaos of Hanoi, we were looking forward to some relaxation on the peaceful waters of Halong Bay.
Donned with multi-colored Mexican Sombreros, a group of about fifteen backpackers, an entertaining tour guide, a green plastic reindeer named Duval, and myself journeyed four hours by bus to arrive in Halong City – the starting destination for our amazing adventure.
Cat Ba Island – After a full day on the road and on water since 7am from Hanoi, to say we were exhausted was putting it mildly.
I was in Hanoi with two of my colleagues, Brijes and Goutam for official work. When our schedule provided us with a free weekend, the obvious destination for the weekend was Halong Bay.