Blogs from Halong Bay, Quang Ninh, Northeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 66

I woke up early because I had to be up for the Halong Bay tour. I met a really nice family from Germany, and a girl from Japan. On the mini-bus on the way to Halong Bay, there were a bunch of guys from the UK who were so funny. They kept the bus laughing the whole way there. When we got to Halong City, we all went to a restaurant, where I met some people who live pretty close to me. We had a huge lunch, and then went out to find our boat. Some French tourists ended up joining us on the boat. They were so annoying. We got a small raft into a cave, and one of the French ladies kept sitting on me! I was so pissed! We visitied some of the ... read more

Just got back from an absolutely breathtaking few days on Halong Bay. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it's just like the pictures promise... Thousands and thousands of limestone islands that jut straight up into the air. Apparently, they're very similar to those on the Adaman coast of Thailand. The call it 'where the dragon meets the sea.' Left Hanoi early Tuesday morning to go to Halong City by bus. There are 5 zillion tour companies offering this type of cruise, but they're not all the 'same same.' I've heard some horror stories about being put on crappy rooms in the bottom of an old boat that looks nothing like the photos at the travel agencies. I've heard stories about getting smoked out by diesel fumes and rotting fish and eating only eggs for 3 ... read more

When we arrived in Vietnam, we arrived at the Hanoi airport at about 4 or 5 in the afternoon, it was hotter than a you-know-what like Thailand. From there we had a three-hour drive to Ha Long City, which is basically a new city by the bay whose sole purpose is to cater to tourists. However, seeing as how Vietnam is communist (although it is slowly becoming less and less strict), and they are just jumping into the tourism business, it wasn’t all that fantastic to visit. The only thing worth seeing here was Ha Long Bay (for the trivia nerds, “Ha Long” means “dragon descending”). So, basically stay a day or so—long enough to see the bay—then leave. The townspeople here are strange too, so I wouldn’t even suggest going to canoodle with natives; save ... read more

Ha - "descending" Long - "dragon" Little did the Vietnamese know that in just two short days the name of their beloved jewel and soon to be biggest tourist attraction would be renamed. And so Operation Descending Stella begins... I awoke in a haze of darkness and unusual silence. The haze because of a night pushing my luck with Hanoi's famous, "bia hoi" (draft beer), the darkness because the two windows in my $6 per night room faced a building that was no more than 18 inches from my hotel, and the unusual silence because there were no high pitched motorbike horns blaring as they consistently do from 6am to 1am every day. After checking the time, 5:40am, I had a look outside to find an interesting variety of life. The first thing I noticed was ... read more

Gonna back date this a bit otherwise my entry could go on for miles (or should that be kilometres?) On tour: Ha Long Bay Caves, Seafood & Relaxing Overnight on boat. Okay, Ha Long Bay, it seems like a century ago that I was out that way. It all started off with about a three hour drive to Ha Long City where we jumped over a few boats to get to ours. There were about 18 of us on board the ship the first day that took us around Ha Long Bay with a couple of stops. We went to Surprising Cave which is surprise, surprise, a huge cave! I know this isn't going to sound very good (or that I'm a bit unappreciative) but when you've seen one cave, you've seen them all. Mind you, ... read more