Blogs from Halong Bay, Quang Ninh, Northeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 2

Travelling to Halong bay and finding our feet.

Asia » Vietnam » Northeast » Quang Ninh » Halong Bay November 8th 2016

Second morning I woke up surprisingly easily, which is lucky as the breakfast the hotel provided took a bit of navigation. They offered bacon, sausages, croissants and toast, alongside noodles, stir fried vegetables, salads and dumplings. An early bus ride took us to Halong bay, slightly less hair raising than the taxi and we got some great views of the city out of the window. Busy, noisy and colourful - it was striking in its immediacy. Scooters everywhere and shops selling everything you could imagine (and things you can't!). Heading to the outskirts of the city we saw lots of water buffalo and ducks as well as hundreds of people working in the fields wearing the traditional conical hats. The hostel is not so impressive and the beds are hard but I still can't help but ... read more

My first view of the islands off Halong bay.

The Message

Asia » Vietnam » Northeast » Quang Ninh » Halong Bay October 22nd 2016

Limestone Pillars of Halong Bay

vagabondvoyager

Geo: 20.9063, 107.082For nearly two weeks, Vietnam has been trying to deliver me a message, one of such profundity, that it is rivaled only by the depth of the Vietnamese culinary repertoire. I paid no attention to the early murmurs that started in HCMC, but they didn't stop, growing louder and louder as the days passed, until they could no longer be ignored. Vietnam's pleas had been muffled for so long, that they finally erupted into a cacophony on par with HCMC's chaotic traffic, shattering the peace and tranquility of Halong Bay, resonating between the iconic limestone pillars dotting the serene waters. "Dude ... your ass be gettin' fat, stop eating so much of our food!!!" Vietnam served notice today, its declaration conveyed with such force, that the button on my shorts burst, skipping across Halong ... read more

Halong Bay

Asia » Vietnam » Northeast » Quang Ninh » Halong Bay October 1st 2016

Halong Bay

lynrob13

We left Hanoi at 8.00am on the 28 September by van for Halong Bay. There were two other couples in the van heading our way. Four hours of exposure to Vietnam's open road traffic culture. Not to be missed. Also not for the faint hearted. Centre lines are a rough guide and passing distances a judgement on how close you can get before pulling in off the oncoming traffic lane. No accidents though, just a few white knuckles and clenched jaws. Halong Bay setting off point is a wharf of tour boats tied up and, at this time of the year, mainly empty. We were on a Bhaya Cruise line boat and once on board found ourselves with only two other couples; Wayne and Jane from Blenheim (he a police detective and she a primary school ... read more

Vietnam, Halong Bay, DaNang, Hoi An

Asia » Vietnam » Northeast » Quang Ninh » Halong Bay April 19th 2016

Hanoi Homes

blancheque

It was our spring break at KAS, so we decided to visit the Northern and Central areas of Vietnam. We arrived Saturday morning at the Vietnam Airlines counter and discovered that we had been upgraded to First Class. What a great way to start a holiday! We were greeted in at the airport in Hanoi by a representative of Galaxy Cruise Lines and whisked to our hotel, The Silk Palace, in the old quarter of Hanoi. We quickly settled into our room and made arrangements with the front desk to take an afternoon walking tour of Old Hanoi. We chose to take the Hidden Hanoi Walking Tour and learn about Hanoi's 1000 year old history. Our man arrived at 1:30, loaded us into cyclos and took us through the busy streets to see the lay of ... read more

Encountering Cambodia and Vietnam - Ha Long Bay, Wednesday 2016 March 9

Asia » Vietnam » Northeast » Quang Ninh » Halong Bay March 9th 2016

Ocean Pearl

beentouring

I woke to the dulcet tones of distant diesel engines on other boats and the scrapes of hard chairs on the hardwood floor above my head. I braved the shower, which was the entire bathroom. The water only came out in a trickle, so only the toilet lid and the floor got wet. On Elizabeth’s advice, I threw a towel on the tile floor to avoid slipping. The water was hot enough, varying from warm to cold but not startlingly so. After going up onto the deck, I rushed down again for my camera. The sun was shining! Or at least, it was bright amongst the clouds and threw lovely shadows across the water from the mountains. In fact, when we glimpsed the actual sun, it seemed to have a bite out of it. A solar ... read more

Encountering Cambodia and Vietnam - Ha Long Bay, Tuesday 2016 March 8

Asia » Vietnam » Northeast » Quang Ninh » Halong Bay March 8th 2016

View from my porthole

beentouring

I am stretched out on a lounge chair on the top deck of our private little cruise boat, the Ocean Pearl, in Ha Long Bay, with the other members of our group. The weather and the light have improved, although the fog and mist shadow the distance. In the foreground are raw sandstone cliffs framed by clinging green trees. Worn mountain tops form islands and islets. We have sailed (motored) away from the press of tour boats that filled the harbour where we and everyone else embarked. Since our boat is a larger, overnight vessel, we needed a small tender, which is now being pulled behind us. The main level has the dining room, where our table was set for a much-anticipated lunch. First we explored the little foredeck and then our charming rooms. All the ... read more

Nature's playground - Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

Asia » Vietnam » Northeast » Quang Ninh » Halong Bay January 18th 2016

Halong Bay

gangopa

In mid July-August 2015 when I was arranging this tour to Ha Long Bay through Linh at HTS, she made a reservation for me in Huong Hai Sealife. I was checking Trip Advisor in the meantime and found Signature cruise has equally good name. I was a bit picky, I nagged if Linh could book me to Signature Cruise instead. Linh, said ...”trust me, Tab! Houng Hai is equally good”. And she was so was right. I think they are better than Signature in many aspects. The bus came to pick me up from the Pearl hotel at 8:00 am. I was waiting in the lobby. It was a nice air-conditioned minivan. I was the first passenger. They picked up two more parties, and one lady. The lady was from U.K., traveling alone. I found her ... read more

Vietnam

Asia » Vietnam » Northeast » Quang Ninh » Halong Bay January 11th 2016

Halong Bay

Jackievick

Having returned to the hotel from the overnight train journey, we had breakfast, a shower and repacked ready to go to Halong Bay at 8.30. It took about four hours to get there, not a particularly comfortable ride, in a minibus with lots of near misses! We were quite surprised to see so many hotels and apartments when we arrived but were delighted to find that our boat was relatively new and luxurious compared to some we saw. The weather was quite overcast on the 2 days we were there, although it was still warm, so we did not see the emerald waters it is known for but that did not spoil our enjoyment of the trip. Halong Bay has a collection of limestone rock formations that rise up out of the water at regular intervals. ... read more

Halong Bay and Beyond: Adventures with Thuy

Asia » Vietnam » Northeast » Quang Ninh » Halong Bay December 15th 2015

Me and Thuy!

katiemac604

Finding a Halong Bay cruise is HARD. First, there are about a million companies you could go through. Some of them are real, some of them are fake. When you read reviews for Halong Bay cruises, you find things like this: "mainly older people and couples" "party boat, booze cruise" "cheap, dirty, bad service" "worth the money, beautiful, mostly old people" Being a solo traveler who didn't want a booze cruise, I had to do some extra research. I found a company on a reddit forum called Ocean Tours that seemed perfect. I sent them an email and signed up. 2 nights, 3 days for $135 including accommodation, food, transport, basically everything but drinks. It was for people in their 20s and sailed around the bay in a different way than the rest of the cruises. ... read more

Meeting Mr Chun in Ha Long Bay (Day 57-58 by Gemma)

Asia » Vietnam » Northeast » Quang Ninh » Halong Bay November 12th 2015

Sunset kayaking

Gempots

Thursday 12th November 2015 Today we booked to spend 2 days and overnight on a boat in the beautiful Ha Long bay. After an early 7am breakfast, the minibus arrived to collect us from our hotel at just before 8am and we joined the other 14 people that would be on our boat and our tour guide, Binh. The journey to the port took 4 hours with a designated 'tourist toilet stop' at the halfway point, with the main aim being to encourage you to buy whatever was on offer in the attached gift shop. Strangely this gift shop specialised in huge ceramic sculptures, naked women, chinese dragons, lions, etc, not the most convenient souvenir to get home?! On arrival at port in Ha Long city, we were transferred from the minibus to a small boat ... read more

Brief history of Vietnam

The conquest of Vietnam by France began in 1858 and was completed by 1884. It became part of French Indochina in 1887. Independence was declared after World War II, but the French continued to rule until 1954 when they were defeated by Communist forc...more history

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