Halong Bay !!

Today we both took the day off as it is the day we go visit Halong Bay!
We made some research beforehand and hesitated on the length of our trip there. In the end we opted for just a 1 day trip from and back to Hanoi. It is located around 3 hours away from Hanoi and possible to do a 4 hours boat tour.
Just like the rest of our little adventures, we started organizing ourselves to avoid being part of group tourism or packed places. But for Halong Bay, being part of a group was inevitable. We booked one online that had nice reviews.
The starting point was in Old Quarter. Our group was around 17 people let's say. Some French, some Japanese, some Americans, some Scottish. Quite a mix !
During the drive, our guide was a Vietnamese man explaining us lots of detail about the Vietnamese traditions and daily life. And after being in Hanoi for 5 days, what he was saying made so much sense on some things that we had observed. More explanation in post "Fun Facts". Right before arriving at Halong Bay, we stopped at a pearl dactory and we could learn how pearls are made and what types of pearls are the most precious. Then we arrived at Halong city. And it was quite odd to be honest. It s basically à ghosttown. Lots of hôtels and resorts are in construction at the seaside. We can only predict that in a few years this city is going to be insanely packed and Halong Bay even more of à touristic attraction. Everything was regulated: busses had to stop and pay à fee and then stop at a specific station at tye Harbour to board the boat. The streets are completely empty. There is no one.
Actually when we went on the boat with the rest of the group, we were happily surprised to see that the sea is not crowd with boat. It was rather nice and did not feel too touristy.
In the 4 hours boat tour was included: à lunch on board; a 45 minutes kayak tour to go through some of the caves and in-between the hills on the water and a visit of one of the biggest cave at Halong Bay called Thien Cung or "Heaven Palace".
We had a lot of fun on the kayak. If you check on the video, it is quite hilarious as it looks like we are not rowing but we are on the other side ! 😅
While visiting we learnt that there were some local villagers living on stilts house and that they unfortunately had to leave so the are could become UNESCO protected. This was quite sad to hear. There was even a school apparently in the stilt village!
The landscapes are absolutely breathtaking. When looking looking the horizon, you can still see far away more and more shapes of hills.
We visited the Thien Cung Cave a.k.a Heqven Palace which was quite crowded with groups like ours. Our guide explained us how this cave was discovered just in 1993 by a Vietnamese walking in the are and randomly following monkeys into a hole somewhere. That hole happened to be one of many hidden entrances to now one of the biggest caves in Halong Bay. In the cave, Vietnamese people like to use their imagination and assume the shapes of some rocks and stalagmites represent animals such as turtles, elephants, dragons. Our guide made us a tour of these imaginary animals which was quite fun.
It was a very nice afternoon and based on what we heard, chosing a 1 day tour seemed like a good option for us. Some people said that when staying overnight, you do not get to see much more or something really different on the second day.
We made the way back to the bus and drove back to Hanoi.
We enjoyed a nice Vietnamese dinner before packing for the next day!Leggi altro