Later on the First Day

If you missed it, Halong Bay Part I covered most of the first day of my 2 day excursion from Hanoi Vietnam.  I stayed and took some pictures and took a nap while everyone else was swimming.  I was awaken by a woman’s voice announcing “buy something”  and I had to investigate.

Just like Benh Thanh Market in Ho Chi Minh City vendors were trying to sell you stuff even in the middle of the bay!  At first, buying bottles of beer, water and snacks from the floating vendors was interesting, and felt kind of like feeding the pigeons but after a while it just got annoying as the relentless vendors and their calls of “buy something” and  “cold beer” just got annoying.  I found it interesting that even after midnight, these women most who were young and pretty were still on the bay, some sleeping and some on their cell phones which I could see lit in the distance.

Floating Vendor Ladies that Swarm the Boat

Dinner, Conversation & Partying?

When everyone came back from swimming they announced that dinner would be in an hour or so as it was just getting dark.  You wouldn’t expect anything less than a fun, unique bunch of international tourists at a world-renowned tourist destination and that is what we had.  Spending almost a whole day with our shipmates let everyone learn about each other.  Almost 3 weeks after visiting Halong Bay I can still remember everyone who I shared the White Dolphin with.

Our group consisted of a single divorced mother from New Zealand with her teenage daughter and son who had been in China for months.  There was an Australian husband and wife who were bankers living in Singapore.  There were two presumably gay guy friends from Australia who have been traveling the world for a year together.  Another lone traveler was a Dutch guy who also had been traveling the world for a year.  There was also 2 solo female travelers, an in-between jobs Filipina woman from Australia and a very cool mid-20s American girl who just graduated school who we actually randomly ran into in Hanoi 2 days later.  Last but not least there was me, an American living in Bangkok and my buddy Jae, a Korean American, living in San Francisco.

Dinner was a great 5 course meal which included very tasty crab.   I forgot the rest of the courses but I remember everything being very good.  We spent about an hour eating dinner and when it was finished everyone with the exception of the mother and two children went to the roof deck of the boat for conversation.

As our group of about 10 people sat and chatted over drinks we noticed the boat off in the distance was making a lot of noise.  It sounded like they were singing karaoke and drinking heavily.  Our group consisted almost entirely of mid to late 30 somethings so I would guess the loud boat in the distance had the group of British backpackers who I sat next to on the ride to Halong Bay.  Keep this in mind if you do the tour.  If you want to party hard, it may be a good idea to get a bunch of young people at a backpacker hotel or hostel to go with or you may get stuck sipping wine and chatting with us old folk.  At around 12:30 or 1:00am our conversation turned to the awkward silence that signals bedtime.

Early Rise

Picture Courtesy of gibtach.blogspot.com

Every guidebook, tour guide and previous visitor to Halong Bay raves about the early morning scenery with the beautiful fog covered limestone rock formations.  Our tour guide stressed that everyone should get up early to view the beautiful scenery.

I was all about getting some good photographs of what would probably be a once in a lifetime experience but when the guide said we were supposed to get up at 5:30am there was a collective groan from myself and the others.

Even though getting up at 5:30am is not something I ever like doing, I set my Nokia cell phone alarm for 5:30am.   I thought the bed was very comfortable in the room and I slept very soundly.  I really didn’t know what to expect but I now know that being in the middle of a shielded bay is pretty quiet at night.

I know it is anticlimactic but when I woke up at 5:30 and looked outside there was no fog at all.  The day was clear and it looked exactly like the day before.  Back to sleep.

Kayaking

After breakfast, which I unfortunately slept through it was time to kayak.  We put on our life vests and got in one of the little transfer boats and it took 10 minutes to get to the pier with all the kayaks.

The kayaks were the open kind where your sitting at the same level as your feet.  There were 2 people per each kayak and then we were set free to explore the bay.  The kayaking was great because you could go through some of the giant limestone rock formation’s caves.

I didn’t bring my HD Canon camcorder because I didn’t want it to get wet, but I was lucky enough to have my picture taken by one of my shipmates.

Saying Goodbye to the White Dolphin

Leaving

After returning from a little longer than an hour of kayaking around Halong Bay it was time to return to the boat for lunch.

I was tired from kayaking and really welcomed the food which never disappointed while on the White Dolphin.  Right after lunch it was time for checkout.  Just like any hotel, we packed our belongings and payed the bill for drinks and the mini bar.

We then loaded up all our baggage to the smaller boat and waved goodbye to the White Dolphin and soon Halong Bay.  We actually got a bigger,  spacious, more comfortable bus/van on the way back which made the 4 hour trip seem a lot shorter.

Overall Impression of Halong Bay

Everything met and/or exceeded my expectations including the great on-board service, fellow shipmates, food, tours and the facilities on the boat itself.  I haven’t mentioned the price of this 2-day Halong Bay excursion from Hanoi on purpose.  I myself didn’t know what to expect when they told me how much it cost.

The entire 2-day trip including everything I have mentioned except drinks only cost 1,600,000 Vietnam Dong or $90!  Considering most of the hotels I stayed at in Vietnam cost around $50 a night, the all inclusive excursion was one of the best bargains I have ever experienced while traveling.  I did go during “rainy season” (didn’t rain a drop) so the price I paid may be lower than someone would pay during peak travel time in December or January.

Save a Day

Since the flight from Saigon to Hanoi was only around 2 hours I thought it would be a good idea to try to get to Halong Bay the same day.  Halong Bay is a good 4 hour van/bus ride from Hanoi so I figured if you could take the flight and then drive straight from the airport to Halong bay it would save a day of travel.  If you read about my experience with flying Jetstar Pacific Airlines you will already know a flight cancellation and the associated delays cost me at least 3 hours of travel.

For anyone reading this who wants to go to Halong Bay, there are booths selling sleeping boat tours (for fair prices) at the airport so it still may be a possibility.  The moral of the story is, if you want to get from Saigon to Halong Bay in a single day, make sure you take the earliest flight from Saigon to Hanoi and book in advance.  I never book in advance so I ended up having to spend a night in Hanoi which wasn’t a bad thing but sometimes it just feels better to get the bulk travel done all in one shot.

Booking & Bus Ride from Hanoi to Halong Bay

Halong Bay is one of Vietnam’s biggest tourist attractions so finding sleeping boat tours is very easy in Hanoi.  Most hotels and all tourist information centers had multiple types of Halong Bay excursions to offer.  Myself and a friend chose a 2 day package which included 1 night on a sleeping boat.  They told us the itinerary which included swimming, kayaking and of course sight seeing and one night sleeping on the boat.  There are also tours that include hiking.

Before you can go on the exciting nautical adventure you need to get there.   I read you can take an hour helicopter flight for around $100/hr which I would have considered due to the fact I have never been in a chopper before and it would shave 3 hours off the trip.  The all inclusive cost for our Halong Bay sleeping boat exrursion included included the 4 hour bus/van trip so why not.

The good part about van trips to excursions like this is you get to meet a lot of interesting people.  Getting stuffed like a sardine to fit 13 or so people in an extended air conditioned van or short bus gives you the opportunity to get up close and personal with your possible shipmates.  Our group included a bunch of different characters on different points of their travel which I will talk about later.  Needless to say, the 4 hour ride which stopped once for a restroom and food break allowed us to get acquainted with some interesting travelers and is a blessing in disguise.

Once we crossed the bridge we knew it wasn’t too long before we boarded our temporary home on the water.  They separated the people in the van into groups depending on whether you were on the 2 or 3 day trip which meant we lost some of our bus companions for people in another bus.  After getting off the bus it took about 30 minutes to all board a small boat to take us to the large sleeping boat.  In a couple minutes we got to the sleeping boat and set sail (not literally) for the middle of Halong  Bay where we would anchor down for the first and in our case only night in Halong Bay Vietnam.

Just Boarded Sleeping Boat, Heading for Middle of Bay

Welcome Aboard

When we first boarded our sleeping boat which was called the White Dolphin we were given choices of rooms.  I was with a friend so we shared a room which had twin beds, nice washroom, mini bar and most importantly air conditioning.  For anyone who travels alone keep in mind you will likely be sharing a room with a complete stranger.  If the thought of this bothers you, it’s probably a good idea to make prior arrangements to avoid this situation.

The White Dolphin had 3 levels.  The bottom level had all rooms.  Our room happened to be the last one on the bottom level towards the back of the boat (sorry for not using the correct nautical terms) so the water was right outside our window.  The mid level had the dining room, bar and more rooms and top level had a bunch of lounge chairs and outdoor tables and furniture.  We barely got a chance to explore the boat after we got our rooms when we were called up to the main deck for lunch.

Lunch & Conversation

Food was included not surprisingly drinks were not.  They served the first meal in 3 courses of pretty good food.  The dining room was very nice with tablecloths and the whole nine yards.  Most of the tables had 4 seats which allowed us to chat with 2 people who happened to be two friends from Australia who have been traveling the world this year.  The conversation was interesting but as soon as we were close to finished we were told that we would leave the White Dolphin via small boat to explore a large cave in 15 minutes.

The Cave & Swimming

We were all shuttled to a big cave which was famous for having several rock formations which looked like objects from a lion to Buddha to the infamous pink genitals!  After the boat landed there was a decent hike up a bunch of stairs to get to the entrance of the cave.  By that time I was very hot and sweating profusely but it came as a relief to find out it had to have been 10 degrees cooler in the cave.

It was unexpected and surprising to me that the first thing we saw upon entering the cave was this very obvious pink penis with scrotum.  Our guide spent a good 5 minutes talking about this pink penis and seemed genuinely excited to talk about the pink phallus which I think was lit up for show.

The rest of the cave wasn’t nearly exciting as the pink phallus.  There was a basic 10 minute walk looping around the cave and then it was time for pictures.  After leaving the cave there are some great picture opportunities which allowed me to take the one at the top of this post.  After leaving the cave everyone got the chance to go to a nearby beach and swim, swim of of the boat or stay on the boat and relax which is what I did.   Most of the people in our tour opted to swim on the beach while a couple others were content to jump off the top deck of the boat.  Everyone seemed like they burned a lot of energy swimming and after I took a nap it was beginning to get dark…

I Told you our Guide was Excited!

Continue to Halong Bay Part II: