When
you go to Vietnam, people tell you of all sorts of places you must see. We will
come back one day to see the rest of the country. The one place we think you
should never miss is Ha Long Bay. We were given the advice not to go with the
small and cheaper operators but to go with the big, fairly expensive companies.
It was the best possible advice. This trip was a dream come true. We absolutely
loved every moment of it and thoroughly recommend that you add it to your
bucket list
It
is a three and a half hour trip to Ha Long Bay from Hanoi. It is not that far,
the roads are very busy and congested and one drives slowly through many towns, rather
like our N2 highway through Somerset West. So it was an early start as our luxury bus came to collect us at 8am. We took overnight bags and left our suitcases
at the hotel, to which we would return after three days away
The outskirts of Hanoi
This is the typical Vietnamese house, it may have
many storeys, but all the houses seem to be the same width
Only the older houses are bigger. And people have
built small businesses in their gardens
Halfway there, we stopped at a tourist centre which
employs disabled craftsmen who make local art and crafts. Many of the disabled people are victims of the Vietnam war
Alabaster
statues and carvings
made on the site, using ordinary power tools
some showing immense skill and artistry
Embroidery
Painting
A laughing Buddha for your garden temple
Clothing and jewellery
Our luxury bus was very comfortable
We stopped again later for a drink of fresh
coconut juice. It was amazing how much liquid is in each coconut. They are very
refreshing
We arrived at the harbour and met our urbane and
well spoken tour guide Smiley Huang
Several different tours were leaving and there
were tenders to take everyone and their luggage to the boats
Some were on one night stays, our voyage was two
nights, three days
We passed some of the other boats
And there is ours, the magnificent Dragon Legend 1
which is run by Indo Junk Tours
Boarding the tender and putting on life jackets
Passing a smaller boat. We even saw a boat which
they called the honeymoon boat - just one couple
Labels, in case we boarded the wrong boat!
Immediately after boarding, we had a meeting with the crew and were given safety
instructions
Wow, we were not expecting this. Our luxury cabin
Finest percale linen
and a large bathroom on suite
And we begin our slow cruise through the wonderful
pinnacle islands of tropical plant clad limestone
You can see how the water level has dropped over
the centuries
Up on deck for lunch. We knew then we were in for
an incredible three days. First course: Spicy and sour fresh shrimp & tomato
soup
Garden Salad with lime dressing
Prawns, so sweet in a Lemongrass and ginger sauce
Deep fried Ha Long crab meat 'kebabs' skewered on
sugar cane sticks
Stewed chicken with black beans and (no) mushrooms
Steamed green seasonal vegetables - mostly morning
glory we were told. This was served with steamed sea bass in soya sauce and steamed rice. Dessert was a platter of fresh fruit
Getting to know each other over lunch. There were
27 passengers, the boat has 24 double cabins, some with an extra bed for
children
Mountains in the mist with a fishing boat
Caves and what we assume is a navigation marker
It is so relaxing slowly sailing past these lovely
islands
Time for an outing after a tour of the ship. Kayaking for the energetic
Naps for those, like us, who enjoyed the large
lunch.
But first, we opted for a gentle cruise round the immediate environs round the anchored ship
to watch the intrepid kayakers departing
to take in a few views of the ship,
and the beautiful bay
to watch some of the fishermen
at work in small boats
some were a bit bigger
Then back to the ship
for a view of the bay
from the upper deck
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016
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