Blogs from Bai Tu Long Bay, Quang Ninh, Northeast, Vietnam, Asia

I had heard conflicting stories about Halong Bay but it was definitely on the must do list for Vietnam. As you know, pollution and rubbish are twin anathemas to me so I was not too keen to travel with all the big boats. Our lovely hostel in Hanoi, Old Quarter Hostel, recommended Swan Tours to us. Boats that sailed on the quieter Ba Tu Long Bay seemed appealing and off we went with the irrepressible tour guide Mee keeping us entertained on the journey to the port. The rest stop, International Tourist Rest Centre, could have been avoided, but maybe not. Maybe this was a government requirement for all the tour buses to stop at this huge megamarket which sold everything from immense marble statues to small packets of green tea. We were dropped off at ... read more

Nach Cat Ba wollten wir noch die weiter im Westen liegende Insel Quan Lan anschauen. Leider erlebten wir hier mal die vietnamesische „nicht Gastfreundschaft“ und so fanden wir das ganze nicht so toll.Wir fuhren von Cat Ba mit der Fähre zurück ans Festland und fuhren weiter der Küste entlang bis nach "Cai Rong“. In Cai Rong fahren Boote nach Quan Lan. Uns wurden auch sogleich Tickets für irgendwelche Boote angeboten, welche wir dankend ablehnten, da wir diese lieber im offiziellen Ticketoffice kauften. Leider konnten wir nicht das offizielle Schiff nehmen, da wir unser Motorrad mitnehmen wollten. So mussten wir trotzdem auf einen Privatboot gehen. Wir waren naiv und liessen ein paar Männer das Motorrad ins Boot tragen. Als das der Roller im Boot war, wollten sie Geld dafür haben. Vy machte einen grossen Aufstand, da sie ... read more

Picked up by Paloma Cruise & taken to Halong Bay. Bus was full as some had their trip cancelled the day before due to rough seas? Three & a half hour trip. There was another Aussie named Nigel on tour with us. He talked all the way up with my Vicki - non-stop. Hard to say who is the bigger talker. Vicki didn't help as she continually maintained the conversation. Nigel complained about everything, in particular being ripped off money wise. Mr pessimist. He even bought a brand new Nikon SLR camera, and he was disappointed with it - because he only had a standard lens. It would appear that he lost most of his money through regular visits to the brothels, and his lack of understanding of the currency. A regular aspect of his conversation ... read more

After I was back home from Hà Giang, I booked another tour to the far north (Cao Bằng province), but the tour was cancelled a couple of days before the trip. I decided to change to a 3-day tour to Quan Lạn island. April 30 and May Day are one of the biggest festivals in Vietnam, so hotels are fully booked in advance and prices often go up. I chose to travel on a tour as it was very close to the holiday and it was also more convenient. My 3- day tour (from 28 to 30 April) costs US$150. Quan Lạn is one of the islands in Bái Tử Long bay (north east of Hạ Long bay). We left Hanoi at 5:30am and traveled 216km to Cái Rồng port, then we changed to a speed ... read more