Posted August 4
Ha Long Bay
What can I add to the voluminous accounts of Ha Long Bay? One of Vietnam’s most popular tourist destinations, the beauty and splendor of the karst seascape is truly a wonder to behold. Geologically, the same processes that made Vang Vieng so spectacular are at work here too.
There are some practical things to note. Taking a cruise through the bay is the most common way to see the Bay. The phrase cruise is a bit of a misnomer. Really it’s. Small floating hotel that doesn’t really go that far. It anchors in the bay and then hosts numerous activities and excursions from that floating location. The total amount of time the cruise boat actually travels is about two hours each way.
Obviously it passes by spectacular views all during that passage.
You have many, many choices for what cruise ship to take. There are probably about 100 or so cruise boats doing some version of Ha Long Bay cruises. My choice was made easier by asking my hotel in Hanoi to help me book one. They asked how much I wanted to spend, and not really knowing what the options were, they said that for a two-day, one-night cruise it ranged from a budget friendly $50 to an extravagant $5,000.
I said more than budget but less than extravagant. The hotel clerk asked, “How about $150, there are nice boats for about that much.” Not like I knew, so I said yes. Which was the way I became a passenger on The Ha Long Sapphire.
Up in my Hotel room, the clerk called and said that if I spent $200 for the package that included all food and transportation then I could get a suite. That sounds good, right? Of course I want a suite. Let’s go for a suite!
The night before the excursion I prepared for a supposed three hour bus ride to Ha Long on a Luxury Bus. I envisioned the one from Cambodia.
So on the given day, I boarded a “luxury bus” for Ha Long. Which actually turned out to be a luxury bus. The driver and guide were friendly and I was only the 2nd passenger to get picked up from my hotel. The bus made its way through the impossibly narrow streets of the Old Quarter and the French Quarter to pick up a few more passengers, all bound for the same cruise.
Only once during all this maneuvering did a mishap happen, a little fender bender between the bus and a car that actually thought it was going to turn a 10-foot wide street with an 8-foot wide bus going down it into a two-way boulevard. I sharp bang sound ensued. The driver exited the bus, and while I don’t understand Vietnamese, I certainly understand the universal tone of swearing.
After a couple of minutes of arguing, the driver got back on the bus, the car driver got back into the car, and somehow using topology theorems beyond my understanding, got the vehicles disentangled and we kept going on our way. This delayed our arrival to the port by five minutes.
Once in port, another practical item was revealed. Because there are the aforementioned hundreds of cruise boats, and they all have pretty much the exact same schedule, there is no way there’s room for all of them to come into port.
So every cruise boat sends a small tender into the port to pick up passengers. And by small, it’s not the size of a dinghy, but it small enough that you definitely know if your bench mate is a smoker.
The process of getting each tender docked, about 30 people onto it, and motoring back out into the bay is extremely efficient. Even with passengers speaking dozens of languages and crews yelling in Vietnamese it is a sight to behold, and takes each tender about 10 minutes.
After that, there’s a mandatory stop for each of the tenders at the harbormaster’s pier to file manifests and have the harbor officials do a “safety check.” This safety check is very thorough, with someone on the dock looking at the tender for two seconds and giving the thumbs up.
Then, the tender turns out into Ha Long Bay, passes remarkable scenery for about 30 minutes before docking with the main cruise boat. Passengers disembark, get herded into the dining room for a briefing and get their cabin keys. Finally, the crew helps take baggage to cabins and you’re actually cruising.
Most boats support anywhere from 30 to 50 passengers. Mine was designed for 42 passengers. There’s cabins, outdoor decks, and a single dining room. That’s it. Not like the big cruise ship giants with rollercoasters and waterslides, this is a simple affair.
My suite was the entire rear of the top deck of the boat. It had windows on both the starboard and port sides, and a private patio that encompassed the entire stern of the deck. Plenty of space for one person. Very nice.
An announcement that it’s time for lunch, and all the passengers are back in the dining room. Like any cruise, there’s more food than common sense says we should eat. Lunch is 8 courses. Right before swim time.
Watersports were on tap for the afternoon: kayaking and swimming in the bathtub temperature water. Kayaking let me get up close and personal with the limestone columns and islets and it was fascinating to see the rock formations up close. Swimming directly off the boat was fun and the water was amazingly warm.
After a few hours, it was time to get everyone onboard for dinner and evening entertainment (Karaoke) and simply gazing out at the landscape. The weather cooperated and there were mainly clear skies to see the sunset and the sunrise the next morning.
The morning brought incredible sunrise colors and an excursion to take small wooden rowboats into a cave. Unfortunately, the timing didn’t work because the tide didn’t allow us to enter the cave, but we went on a sightseeing tour on the rowboats and still managed to see amazing sights and be amazed at the spectacle of it all.
The passengers were people of all ages and represented many countries including England, India, Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, and Canada. It was fun getting to know them for that little bit of time.
Soon it was time to have our final meal on board and make our way back to the port. It was a short but full 24 hours and definitely a highlight of my trip.
It’s a fun experience and if you ever have the opportunity to be in northern Vietnam, one that you should plan to take.
