Halong Bay

It was now time to make our way up North to the big city. We boarded a night bus and slept until the morning when we arrived in Hanoi. Staying in the Old Quarter seemed like a must. Narrow streets adorned with red Chinese lanterns, old buildings, hawkers stalls and thousands of motorbikes greeted us. However, our first mission wasn’t to dwell in the city, but rather to book a cruise to visit the famous Halong Bay.

With hundreds of different tours geared for every possible type of tourist, I must admit we felt completely out of our depth trying to figure out which company to choose from. Should we splurge and get a big cruise ship with luxurious cabins, or backpack it and risk sleeping with rats and eating ant-rice for dinner? After a long of reading on the subject, we ended up settling for simple day trips around the islands, and sleeping on land. We didn’t want to risk spending loads of money and being disappointed, or being cheap and regretting it.

We had read that Halong city itself was gloomy, but the nearby Cat Ba island was beautiful and offered a good alternative for lodging and an excellent base for exploring Halong Bay. We stayed on Lan Ha Bay in a decent hotel with breathtaking views of the limestone cliffs on the bay. Most tour agents around offered similar day trips for similar prices. We booked one and set off the next day on our mini adventure!

The view from our hotel on Cat Ba Island

Boat trips on the bay

I must admit we were a bit jaded from having lived in Phuket for two years because the views of Halong Bay reminded us of Krabi, which was at our door step for all these months. It seemed like nothing new to us, plus the weather was a bit grey which didn’t make for fantastic vistas. We stopped at a fishing village and grotto, then we went kayaking around, and finally to a beach with monkeys after lunch. The kayaking was my favourite part as you could feel the immensity of your surroundings, plus it was very peaceful and quiet. On the beach in the afternoon, we thought it was a bit sad to see the monkey’s behaviour affected by daily tour visits. They grabbed empty cans of coke and beer and tried drinking sips. Overall, we did enjoy the tour, but maybe we would have been able to see more with an overnight trip. I know most people I talk to tell me Halong Bay was one of their trip's highlights.

Fishing Village in Halong Bay

Beautiful experience kayaking in the bay