Halong Bay is one of those unmissable natural wonder places that should be on everyone’s list when in Vietnam. The bay has an area of around 1,553 sq km, including 1,960 islets, most of which are limestone, that form what is called a Karst. Meaning "Bay of the Descending Dragon", it's become a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its geological uniqueness as well as cultural and historical importance - it has been mentioned in poems and verses for centuries. Home to 14 endemic floral species and 60 endemic faunal species, it features cave systems, striking caverns, as well as other geologically interesting formations, such as uniquely shaped massifs.
I took my 3 day/2 night Halong Bay tour with ODC Travel who are based in the Old Quarter in Hanoi. They first picked me up from my hotel in the Old Quarter and we made our way out of the city over the Red River. We arrived at the tourist port in Halong City and then transferred onto a small boat which took us to our wooden junk boat called the Sun Cruise. It was a very nice boat and my cabin had two single beds, a/c and a nice modern bathroom complete with WC, shower and hand basin. We first had lunch which was very luxurious of small prawns, potato croquettes, butterfish etc and then set sail past Halong City for Halong Bay in order to visit the so-called "Amazing Caves" (Hang Sung Sot) which were pretty spectacular but not quite as good as ones I'd seen in Guilin in China. We then got back onto the boat and made our way to Ti-Top Island which features a small sandy beach and a small pavilion at its peak which we climbed to for some good views even though it was still overcast and the light was fading fast. We then transferred back onto the junk and had dinner of stuffed crabs, large fresh prawns hanging off the side of a wine glass, edible flower-shaped vegetables and fresh spring rolls on cocktail sticks stuffed in a pineapple. We were then entertained by a father and daughter duo who sang traditional Vietnamese songs and instruments.
Day 2 started with breakfast on the junk with eggs, loads of toast, fresh fruit, coffee after I slept very well in my cabin. Myself and two Dutch women then transferred to the Cat Ba Prince 3 and we made our way to Cat Ba Island to do some trekking and canoeing and to stay on the island overnight. We reached the island and walked to a village called Viet Hai which featured old wooden houses alongside piles of modern bricks that were ready to build new houses. We stopped by a family who were making square 'cakes' for Tet (the Vietnamese lunar New Year celebration) which included pork, rice and egg shaped into a square and wrapped in banana leaves. We then visited some old style wooden buildings that looked like temples but were in fact a community centre that some French guy had brought over from the mainland and built here. However, they weren't finished because the government had created the National Park whilst they were being built and so didn't give him permission to finish building them! We then had lunch served to us by a 70-year old woman in the village and headed back to the boat in order to do our canoeing. We transferred into canoes and made our way into a small lagoon that you entered under a natural stone bridge where we heard the rustling of trees by monkeys that we couldn't see. We then paddled past floating fishing communities complete with barking dogs back to the boat and then set off for Cat Ba Town and our overnight stay at the Princes Hotel. All-in-all it was a good trip on a lovely boat with some fantastic food and a nice cabin made even more special by the wonderful scenery. I had already seen Karst landscapes along the Li River in China, in Vang Vieng and along the Andaman coast of Thailand but Halong Bay beats them all!
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