Junk, disorganisation and attitude in stunning Halong Bay

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There is no taking away from the stunning natural beauty of Halong Bay in North Eastern Vietnam. You can dump as much rubbish in the oily water and cram as many boats in the bay as possible but you it still won't change the fact that the landscape is the defining picture of an attractive country. Not to say that the water is filthy - away from the people living in floating huts farming fish it is fine and perfectly good for swimming.

As with all the tours offered in Hanoi, a mini bus will collect you from the hotel so that all you have to do is get in and get out as instructed. It isn't difficult. The trip from Hanoi to Halong City was a painless 3 hours. The pain tat there was came about when two young English guys and a group of Americans realised that the quality of our 'junk' (boat) wasn't in keeping with the deluxe price they had paid and the deluxe pictures they had seen. Fair enough the boat's deck was littered with fairly dilapidated benches and sun loungers but the cabins and dining area were perfectly adequate. We felt quite relieved that we had paid the lowest price available and had no expectations of deluxury!


After the English lads had talked their way onto a superior boat and the Americans had backed down from the hungover threats they had been throwing at anyone who could be bothered to listen (the boat's captain certainly not being one of these) we set sail.

Six and a half minutes later and no ore than 80 metres away from the harbour we stopped - the laws of physics demanding this be the case as we had struck another boat. The captain announced that we were to change boat where we would have lunch and then be on our way. If it was calculated to test the patience of every one of the 20 passengers then the calculations were bang on but there wasn't much we could do. Lunch fortunately was good as were all the meals on the boat I thought. Soon enough after lunch we were sailing towards the limestone karsts that we had all come to see.

A stop on an island for a quick tour of some caves was followed by a trip into some hidden lagoons on a smaller boat and that evening we docked at Cat Ba island where we were to spend a night at a hotel (needless to say the Americans had paid specifically for 2 nights on the boat but). The hotel was good and the view of the bay was delightful. In fact the whole island part of the trip was going very smoothly until just after lunch the following day we witnessed a potentially lethal street fight between 2 Vietnamese. The victim was a member of our hotel staff so after he had been punched twice by his attacker he knew exactly where to find the best weapons for his revenge. He was fortunately prevented from using a beer bottle but rushed inside, picked up a hammer and chased the other man down the street. When it became clear that he wasn't going to catch him he rushed back to the hotel, stuffed a crow bar into his waistband and (unconfirmed) a pistol before hopping on a motor bike with his tooled up friends to look for the culprit. We don't know how the story ended.

That night we swan, kayaked, had a few drinks and slept very comfortably on the boat. For the $35 we paid, it was good value. For the $60 the Americans paid, it possibly wasn't!

Now I am back in Hanoi and sadly Holly has left to go home. I leave for a trip to Sapa in the mountains tonight before going to Laos.

Thanks for reading!

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Comments

[deleted_40972]

Ho Long Bay
Sounds like you got a great deal in Ha Long for $35. My buddy and I are on a budget and have been searching around Hanoi for something similar for around that price Can you tell me where you purchased the tour? Appreciate it.

[EH]

Just booked through oour hotel - Prince 79 on Hang Bak