Herding through Halong Bay

My friend Dena arrived for a much anticipated two and a half week visit.  I met her in Hanoi and we were lucky enough to jump on a cruise of Halong Bay so I could do a site visit for work.  They picked us up promptly at the crack of dawn and we headed toward Halong Bay City along with a convoy of various tourist busses.  We witnessed a very unfortunate cow strapped to the back of a motorbike along the way.  I am always amazed at what people manage to squeeze onto a motorbike in SE Asia and of course, felt immense sympathy for the cow.

Our arrival to Halong Bay City indicated we placed ourselves squarely in the middle of touristy central. The parking lot of the pier teemed with tourists, tour guides, and piles of luggage.  People were shuffling into lines to get through the Disneyland like turnstiles that permitted entry to the pier where you then boarded your boat.  After a short ride on a speedboat, we arrived at a quite stunning junk and settled into our room.

Swanky room!

We immediately parked ourselves on the top deck to catch the view as we sailed toward the bay.   Of course, the scenery leaves one in awe.  Our beautiful junk sailed along and joined in with several junks heading toward Surprise Cave, forming a somewhat noisy herd of boats. The area that holds the cave was so busy, we had to park the boat outside the small bay and take a speedboat in.  To ensure the flock of junk boats knew of our existence and didn’t run us over, the speedboat driver occasionally turned on a siren that didn’t do much to enhance the serenity of our surroundings.

 The cave itself was nice, but nothing extraordinary.  And filing through it with nearly 200 tourists from various boats detracted from the experience!

The highlight of the tour was our giggling guide pointing out this rock formation that looks remarkably like a....I'll let you fill in the blank here with whatever word you prefer.

After a quick trip to a beach, we finished the day with a Halida on our beautiful deck.

The evening was restful enough. However, the boats all dock in the same bay and the backpacker party boat was rockin' till the break of dawn.  Gotta love those earplugs.

Overall, the boat itself exceeded all expectations.  The cabins, food, staff, etc were remarkable.  However, the tour itself is the same as all tours leaving from Halong Bay City.  Thank goodness the boat didn't go to Monkey Island, a spot filled with somewhat aggressive monkeys that are not indigenous to this area.  Someone brought them here as a tourist attraction.  If we'd stopped there I possibly would have thrown myself off the boat in protest and swam back to Cat Ba.

If you travel to Halong Bay and have the time, you might consider going directly to Cat Ba Island and arranging a tour of Halong and Lan Ha Bay from there.  Based on my experience, I think it will provide you with a more unique adventure!