Thiet Ke Web

Cruising Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

We got up early today as we need to catch the bus for our trip to Ha Long Bay, about 3 hours west of Hanoi. Ha Long Bay is a lovely little inlet filled with many karsts [limestone formations], tiny islands, secluded beaches and luxurious [and not so luxurious] “junk” type cruising vessels. Our was to be one of the for luxurious types – the “Valentine”

We boarded our boat at 12. It was amazingly nice with a teak paneled cabin, satin bedspread, cushy comforter, air conditioning and large windows to look out over the water [although we did later discover that the women on small boats hawking water and potato chip were at eye level].

The bathroom had a real shower with water pressure and unlimited hot water. There were 4 cabins downstairs and a luxury cabin upstairs so in all the boat had capacity for only 12 people at a time. Our first night on the boat there were 8 other people and the second night a cozy 6 others. This seemed nice when were deciding on the boat as others that were supposed to be just as nice had a capacity of 29 or so.

We made friends on the boat with Susan and Dan, teachers for the International School who were currently teaching in Ho Chi Mihn City and were up for their first vacation in Vietnam. They were a total hoot and we ended up hanging out for the whole cruise and upon our return to Hanoi.

Lunch was served at 1 and was a mixed of Vietnamese inspired Continental food. It was actually pretty awful. Joel’s greasy fried frozen fish filet topped with a sauce that can only really be described as “moist” was the highlight. I will say they did a good job getting our food preferences correct – Joel not eating seafood and Allan not eating fish, although apparently squid is neither. Perhaps that is because it is easier to pick around.

After lunch, we stopped by a little island for some beach time and, for those more ambitious folks [not 4 Tiger Beers down or in desperate need of tanning], a hike to the top for a panoramic view. I hear it was spectacular.

Later, our boat moved over to an island that held the “bat cave”. We were given the opportunity to either kayak over or take a Sampan [small row boat] to check it out. Joel and I opted for the kayak and made it over in short order. The rest of the passengers never quite made it, sampans being fairly slow an all.

We arrived back to the boat in time for our on board massage. The massage was in our cabin given by a woman who weighed about half as much as I did. She did an extremely good job.

After wards, we all sat down for dinner.

After dinner, we hung out with Dan and Susan and swapped travel stories. We all skipped the movie being screened, although it did sound interesting. It was “Indochine” starring Catherine Denuve. We turned in around 11.

Source: mytripjournal

Recommendation for trip in Ha Long Bay:

Ha Long Bay Cruise
Ha Long bay Kayaking

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ACTIVETRAVEL ASIA (ATA) offers a wide selection of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar adventure tours, including hiking and trekking, biking, motorcycling, overland touring and family travel packages.

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