Halong Bay 19th – 21st June

After looking at the dozens of tour operators for Halong Bay cruises, we decided to go with Alova cruises, although more expensive the boats were nicer and they didn’t cram dozens of people into a small space.

On the first day, myself, Hannah, Ylan and Jerry boarded a bus to Halong city, boarded our boat and headed out to the open sea. On arrival at our base we dropped anchor had a great lunch and although the wine bottles were on the tables we were given a complementary juice :(
After lunch we jumped in the kayaks, we went for a paddle around some islands; while the scenery is amazing the amount of rubbish floating on the surface of the water ruined the charm of the area.

Then we took a small boat to what looked like man made beach, where most of the other boats from the harbour had taken their guests, but with a high cost café, expensive deck chairs and pricey volley ball rentals we decided to just sit on the sand and admire the view, you know the view past the dozens of tourists in the water, past the jet skis, and past the rubbish floating about.

After that we had a cooking class, which was making spring rolls (again with the spring roll cooking classes!!). Then shortly after that we had dinner, spring rolls, prawns; crabs the list goes on, a great meal. Although the drinks were very pricey the little Vietnamese women from the surrounding floating villages would row up to the boat and sell cheaper beers, much to the disapproval of the bar staff.

Buy something!?!?

The next day we woke up early and took a small boat to Sung Sot cave, a huge cave that has had a path and some great lighting installed, our guide pointed out many figures that had been spotted in the cave; some obvious and some required a stretch of the imagination. 

 Later that day we headed out and took a look at the floating villages and the floating pearl farm. Our last stop for the day was at a small beach where we found a spot of water that didn’t have any rubbish and went for dip, which stopped promptly after a floating poo made its way towards us!
Later that night we made some more spring rolls and had dinner, we had smuggled a bottle of wine on board and sat on the deck in the warm night air talking with other travellers.

Reading back over this post I don’t sound too positive but I feel like it’s a fair review, Halong bay is marketed as a wonder of the natural world and boasts its UNESCO status, and yes the thousands of small islands and green water makes for a great view, but over the years this place has become the number one tourist attraction in Vietnam and I’m sure many years ago Halong bay would be a magical place, but the affects of tourism haven’t been managed well, the rubbish the over crowding, we were told in peak summer time there would be over 40 cruise ships anchored in the small area. Don’t let his put you off the idea visiting I think I was just a little let down due to the hype.