Ha Long Bay aka: Halong Bay

Sleeping on a junk is definite experience to be devoured.

Be very careful when booking tours… I did a lot of research before booking ours. Worked out well, but the boat did pick up other people (read: drunken loud-mouth douchebags) on the second night while we were dumped on CatBa Island. Although I did enjoy CatBa Island, it would have been nice to spend 2 nights on the boat.

The caves are great, very busy, but nice to see. Not ‘stunning’ however. The best view we had the entire time was when we went kayaking through a small cave where boats couldn’t go.

Waiting at the dock was a bit shite. But the bus ride was pretty comfortable (specially if you’ve ever crossed the boarder from Thailand to Cambodia).

We visited Ha Long Bay in 2002, mid way through a year teaching English in Southern China. We arrived there after a rotten trip to Hanoi and it was a breath of fresh air. We booked our trip through the Kangaroo Cafe in Hanoi and I highly recommend doing it this way. We had a lovely clean and comfortable minibus from Hanoi, a great lunch on the way and a very smooth transfer onto our “junk” for the bay tour.

Our “junk” was a modern replica of the older boats doing the bay trade. It was all polished timber, beautiful dining room, fabulous top deck and a great crew who really looked after us. The sleeping quarters were tiny and airless, but it didn’t matter because most of us dragged mattresses onto the top deck and slept in the “1000 star hotel”.

Our tour of Ha Long Bay took us to some great photo spots, temples and swimming spots. The food on the boat was nothing short of incredible. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

I would like to make a boat trip on the Halong Bay and moving through its 3000 odd limestone islands. The tiny islands are dotted with beaches and grottoes created by wind and waves, and have sparsely forested slopes ringing with bird tunes.

even in February, Halong Bay is wonderful, but chilly.

being pushed through a quiet ocean is a unique feeling. Surrounded by islands of limestone, inaccessable from there steep pitch, stopping in the evening and hearing absolutely nothing but the gentle breath of mother nature the soul of Vietnam.