Places to Visit from Hanoi: Halong Bay (Part: I)

Mike Behnken — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:10:46 +0000

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:

Getting to Saigon Vietnam from Bangkok

Mike Behnken — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:05:17 +0000

Saigon from Bangkok

We all know those hop, skip & a jump flights in the United States and Europe, i.e. San Francisco to Los Angeles, London to Munich, etc. and to my surprise Bangkok to Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) was no exception. I’ll be honest, I’m a pretty poor mathemitician when it comes to figuring out how long flights take when any time zone changes are involved. I saw the flight times on my E-Ticket for my sub $50 Air Asia flight and I remember it being maybe 2 hours but I didn’t mind to look into it any further.

Soo – ah – na – poom

Suvarnabhumi airport which is impossible to pronounce (pronunciation above) by English speakers using the phonetic spelling may seem like a big problem to get to, but if your flight is not at a rush hour, getting to and through the airport to your flight is truly a breeze. Unlike the horrific US airports and their ludicrous extra security checks, inept employees and downright horrendous layouts Suvarnabhumi is laid out very simply and takes only 30 minutes to get through for most Air Asia international flights which depart from the same terminal. Of course we headed to the airport for a 3:55 international flight to Saigon after 2pm and got there right at the closing time for the check-in counter 3:10 which is not recommended, but it can be done. Note, there were also people behind us in line at the check in counter and there was time for a rest room visit as well as to grab a highly overpriced sandwich.

Actual Flight from BKK to SGN

I noticed the small size of the Airbus A3xx we were flying next to a 747 at the next terminal which reminded me how fast it would board compared to the jumbo jet next to it. As with most flights I’ve on outside the US, the plane boarded quickly, there was no absolute horse shit things done to waste time and before we knew it the plane was up and away. Apart from this Eurotrash douchebag sitting behind me who complained that I put my seat back, the flight was over before we knew it. It took just around an hour and I noticed that Saigon was right next to the airport with the snaking river that you saw in all the Vietnam war movies. Upon landing I had to test the online visa agency for its worth…

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