Ok. So, the cruise on Halong Bay. I want to get some information out there for anyone that may be reading this (as I did of others), planning for their own trip to Vietnam and specifically Halong Bay. 2 vital most important things/steps: book through a trusting company YOU KNOW is the right company (see below) and splurge for the 3 day 2 night (if not more). Oh so worth it. Don't waste your money or time going for just 2 days and 1 night and those of you even playing with the idea of only going for a 1 day tour...forget it! It's too pretty of a place to not stay longer and so much time wasted just getting there and back. If you can't afford the time to stay longer, well, sucks to be you and either change your travel itinerary to be able to stay longer or just flat out choose to go somewhere else.
Halong Bay. NorthEastern Vietnam Bay is a World Heritage Area. There is a local push there to get the area designated as one of the 'new' 7 Natural Wonders. Although you can feasibly get there on your own and get your own ferry travel to an island. We booked a tour from Hanoi and were very happy with this decision. 4 hour ride to the ferry port to arrive to a swindle of people. And oh so many boats. Where is the water, the harbor is nothing but boats? Even here, knowing we didn't have to fight this to find out own way was a relief, even though we still had in the back of our mind, 'Did we book the right tour?'
You see, in Vietnam, I don't believe there are any laws about copyright, or at least they are not enforced. If a business/brand is successful, plan on finding many, I mean hundreds+ of copycats all claiming to be genuine. And honestly, a lot of the time, you can't tell the difference until it's too late. You've spent your money and your one chance. I admire those of you that can afford the time or money to not even have to fight to find the real thing! But oh the treasures the rest of us can find along the way. Ok, back to Halong Bay...so, yes, successful tour companies are copied. Copied to the max, but only until you book and pay. They set up shop, rent a building, put up signage, have printed material, show you fancy pictures of the boat you will stay on, the food you will eat. But beware...this is not what you will receive. The advice given us holds true, if the price is too good to be true, than yes, it is too good and you should walk away. Once you've paid and gotten to the boat, it might not be what you booked. The way around this, KNOW who you are booking through. We booked SINH Cafe and it was great. But know this. There are only 2 real offices in Hanoi. Every block though in the Old quarter has about 5-6 SINH Cafe offices. Really? Do you think a company would really do this? No. THESE ARE FAKE!!!! How do you know you are at the right one? Get the correct address. And don't trust any locals to tell you the truth on that. Use a trusted guidebook, or internet (can you trust that?). We booked at:
This is a real office (as of April, 2010): 40 Luong Ngoc Quyen St., Hanoi
CHeck those addresses closely!!!! Copycats will be right next door and right across the street! Oh, also check spelling, of any company...very c l o s e l y. Anyone traveling in Vietnam for any length I would hedge bets that you will get to know SINH quit well. They have a new logo, trying to distinguish from the copycats. I am curious to see how long that lasts.
So our tour? 3 days/2 nights. The second day worth it for real time to relax on the bay. Otherwise, the time is spent getting to and from. Once being ferried out to our 'correct' boat, we ate lunch as the chinese junk boat, the Margarette (spelling?) went into the bay. Just about finished eating, we arrived at our first outing to 'Surprise Cave.' Also known as Amazing Cave and SunSot Cave. This cave was gorgeous! Huge and really amazing formations. This tour, like any other guided tour we have taken in SE Asia (and in America for that matter), had their rather amusing names for various formations. Why people must name formations in relation to what they evoke in the mind, as opposed to marveling in the actual beauty and natural process in creating the formation, I don't understand. Some are interesting of course in terms of the Asian naming convention. Instead of drapery, these bacon strip formations were called 'dragon tails'. Did I mention in an earlier post about another cave, the guide calling rimstone dams, 'mini rice paddies.' It's all about frame of reference. But hey, in this cave they have penguins! That's right, penguins...in a cave...in Vietnam! HAAA---yeah right. They were garbage cans. But why in the world they had penguins and dolphin garbage cans here, I have no clue. Strange sense of humor? No understanding of the obsurdity? Cheap leftovers from a production line? These simple things are what brought smiles to each other in a country that riddled us with such frustration.
After the 'caving,' most other guests on the boat went for an hour kayaking excursion. This would be their only opportunity. As we had all the next day, we opted to return to our junk boat and relax on the boat. A nice enjoyable afternoon being only 2 of the three people on the boat, short of the staff of course. Quiet, beautiful scenery. It was overcast the entire time we were in Halong Bay. But this made for some nice fog effects and the scenery constantly changing, revealing different cliff lines as the clouds meandered about. Well, I should say it was quiet until the captain went off in the little 'commuter' boat to pick up the kayakers. At this point loud karaoke music was turned on by the staff left behind. Promptly to be turned off when the captain returned. I guess this was their one reprieve. After seeing how the whole operation works, I realize this staff never leaves the boat, until a day off of course. But in Vietnam, this was probably only 1-3 days a month. They probably relish in the days that no guests opt to return to the boat to relax at this time. Gives them some more free time on this 12 room boat.
Evening meal on the boat and some evening karaoke. Lots and lots of seafood. And the food just kept coming. The drinks outrageously priced, especially for Vietnam. Even water. We came prepared though. Had to sneak on our water through and be conspicuous on drinking it. They would charge us if they found out! Talk about monopoly. Karaoke a bit of a drag. But no surprise. Where in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam has there not been karaoke? and bad karaoke and loud karaoke at that. We've come to except this as a fact of life here.
Oh and dinner, more laughter at the communication breakdown traveling in SE Asia. The meal, was tame for Vietnamese standards. They obviously designed the menu with a western tourist in mind. Thinking we want to eat more western style food. This we still don't understand. A guest at our table, in true fashion, not thinking the food was spicy enough asked for some chili peppers. There was some huge confusion as to what he was asking for and was eventually told that they didn't have any. Our table was a bit confused about how this could remotely be possible. He settled on some chili sauce. I kid you not, the very next family style dish that got served was garnished all around the plate by what else...chili peppers!
The second day we 'cruised' to an island and while the boat continued onward to return to the harbor, six of us went on our day excursion of kayaking. Wonderful day, wonderful scenery and wonderful company. After making sure we got shuffled into the right boat because the guide had been misinformed that we had paid for this as well. He had to call the company and confirm. Insued some Vietnamese cussing on the phone I am sure as our receipt did clearly show we paid for 3 days. Another guide laughed as he heard Eric chuckle a comment to me mimicking what we thought the conversation entailed, ending in...'oh shit.' They hadn't brought enough kayaks. So after clearing it up, our little boat cruised over to a kayak rental place to get 1 more kayak. Our guide, Son (as in Mike Ty'SON' he explained) was very forgiving.
This day involved a very nice long cruise deeper into the bay in areas we are told the larger boats can't go. Another cave tour and two kayaking areas into and through several grottos. Monkey sighting. Lunch on our little boat. We worried about there also now not being enough food. But no worries. I think SINH does an excellent job at providing mass amounts of food. So even though there were 2 more people than planned there were still leftovers. We had heard horror stories of other tour companies just flat out not providing enough food. We returned to meet our Junk boat sitting in a different alcove of the bay. We had several hours of swimming and jumping and relaxing on the boat before the next day's worth of tour group arrived. This whole day was made even more enjoyable by the company of the four other tourists. We were all about the same age and similar travel styles. French, Swiss and us made for some good conversations, all questioning each others travel experiences and differences in customs. Diner on the boat again. This time followed by some night time squid fishing. One person being successful. Quit amusing seeing a bunch of adults all crowded around at the anticipation of catching anything off the back of our boat and the ooohs and aaaahs when one was caught.
I should mention, I had read various reports that previous Halong Bay Cruisers were disappointed in the evening docking areas for the boat. That there were too many other boats all around. From our experience, yes, there were many many other boats all very close to each other. In our opinion though, this added to the scenery. All these beautiful Junk boats. Quit honestly, they are gorgeous boats, and when you are on one, how do you see it in the backdrop of Halong Bay? You don't. You see other boats. Plus, it gives into the Vietnamese way of cramming as much in as possible. Everyone making their buck. We learned two important things to consider on this topic. One, The government has limited the number of Junk boats allowed in Halong trying to curtail an overload. No more new boats are being allowed into the Bay. Only new ones that replace previous older boats. Secondly, to help preserve the area, all boats have limitations as to where they can dock for the evening. So of course, they are all going to be in the similar area.
The last day was a long and very enjoyable cruise back to harbor with b-fast and lunch on the boat again. The sun actually broke through today, for about 10 minutes. We return back to Hanoi around 5 o'clock, being each dropped off at our respective hotels. Our attempt at a reprieve from the chaos of planning and watching your back every second had paid off. No funny stuff on this cruise. Only some simple oddoties of the Vietnamese way of doing things. What fun.
