Emily : A three and half hour trip east of Hanoi found us in Halong City boarding an overnight cruise into Halong Bay, which has more than 2000 limestone islands rising high above the sea, as if a dragon has swum through the Gulf of Tonkin. It was designated a World heritage site in 1994.
It was easier and cheaper to do a tour from Hanoi, ours had about 12 people which was a good size. Unfortunately Halong Bay is very touristy and we were among about one hundred other boats leaving the harbour into the bay. The boats use to be their natural wooden colour until a VIP from Halong visited Europe and saw all the boats there were white, and therefore made is compulsory for all boats on the bay to be white! The down side being they look very dirty, especially with the fumes from the Diesel engines.
We had a nice cabin with a very firm double bed and smelly bathroom, but at least twice the size of our Sail Croatia cruise and four times bigger than the trains so no problem!!
The views were amazing, although it was very humid and hot. The weather was overcast with showers but didn’t detract from the scenery. We spent about 45 mins walking through a huge cave called Suprise Cave, which had three large chambers. The size of the cave and rock formations were amazing -pity about the technicolor lights scattered throughout the cave!
We spent an hour or two kayaking through small caves and up close to the limestones. Some others from our group jumped in the water which we forfeited as there was so much rubbish, diesel and general gunk in the water – quite sad actually how badly polluted it was.
The food was amazing on board, (they love carving patterns and sculptures it of veges!) and we had a chance to make spring rolls – must make them when we get home!
That evening we anchored in a bay along with 34 other boats!!! It was an amazing spectacle of lights in amongst the limestone.

Scott : After a sleepless night – full on aircon with no sheet, we headed out early to catch the view from a high vantage point in Halong bay. Although a sweaty climb, the views were impressive; the limestone islands dotted as far as you could see. The mist slowly lifting as the morning wore on, revealing more ‘dragons’ emerging from the water.
Although it gave you an appreciation of the vast archipelago, it also demonstrated the shear number of boats and pressure on the area. 52 boats in one bay! To cool off we headed for the ‘clean beach’, only to find we had a mini oil spill on us as we emerged.

Showers and a cold drink later, we motored off to meet up with another smaller boat, one that would take us to Cat ba island, the largest island in the region. After performing a mid water transfer, we headed off to a small islet and jetty where our bikes were organised. It was a nice change cycling over the island – single speed, a half flat tire; all I needed was a flower on my basket. We arrived at a small village and went for a walk in the forest to a cave, used by the Vietnamese to shelter from bombing raids, during the wall. The insect life was amazing, huge stick insects and spiders 🙂 Suitably sweaty, we biked home, my bike now on its rims.
We had the choice of some more kayaking, but given the temperature was topping out at 32 we fell asleep on the top deck, after a cold afternoon beer.
We arrived in the afternoon at Cat ba island, traditionally a fishing port, it now serves as a hub for domestic tourists. The neon lights ablaze on the floating restaurants, small stalls selling BBQ seafood in the waterfront. Our choice for dinner was a complete blow out – poor recommendation Lonely planet. I think its rating on trip advisor had gone to the managers head. The night markets were ablaze with cheap Chinese toys, bad karaoke wafting out of most hotel lobbies.
A good nights sleep for an early wake up and another boat ride !

Emily : The next day we cruised for another couple of hours through Halong Bay, chilling out (actually heating up) on the upstairs deck of out ‘private boat’. As most people do only one day in Halong, it was nice to cruise amongst quieter bays, occasionally seeing another boat in the distance. although it was raining lightly, it was nice to be alone amongst the cliffs. We transferred to a larger boat and had lunch on the way back to Halong City before starting the long drive back to Hanoi.

Scott : This trip has been a little confronting, on one hand it’s an amazing place, a world class natural wonder. On the other hand, the mass tourism that seems to have overtaken Vietnam and driving a huge section of the economy, is ruining the precious resource that attracts so many people. It’s a hard thing to justify not coming to see it – you’re here, its amazing, yet at the same time we feel we need to get off this gringo tourist roundabout, to contribute to the planet, rather than constantly take from it. Maybe its our natural human instinct for us to feel like we need to contribute. I visited here more than 12 yrs ago; it has changed so much!