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Hang Gai

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    • Traveler22 Tage Südostasien
      Day 11

      Tag 10 - Durch die Ha Long Bucht

      November 11 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

      Der Morgen begann mit einer Runde QiGong. Gefrühstückt war schnell, denn es war sehr übersichtlich. Das erste Ziel war der Cat Ba Markt. Was wir hier sahen übertraf alles was wir bisher an Frischenärkten gesehen haben. Tierschutz und Hygienevorschriften spielen hier keine Rolle, die Bilder sprechen für sich. Nach einem Obstcocktail und Kaffe mit Joghurt ging es 10 Uhr weiter mit dem Minibus. Unser Gepäck war fix verladen. Weiter ging es Richtung Fähre durch die Ha Long Bucht Richtung Ha Long City. Auf dem Weg machten wir noch Stop an ein Tempel der Göttin des Wassers und der Berge. Der Weg führte uns über einen Steg durch das Wasser. Danach hielten wir noch an einer Drachenfruchtfarm und kauften in der Ortschaft in einem etwas schmudlichen Straßenrestaurant kleine abgepackte Knabbereien. 13 Uhr fuhr die Fähre los. 80 Minuten ging es durch die traumhafte Landschaft. Oft waren sehr viele Schiffe zu sehen. Wir waren froh, das unser Vuong die Dschunke in der ruhigeren Nachbarbucht organisiert hat. In Ha Long City besichtigen wir die Legend Pearl Fabrik. Wir erfuhren alles über die Perlenzucht. Als Mitbringsel kaufte mir Uwe ein Armband mit einer schwarzen Perle für 95 Dollar. Danach brachte der Minibus uns in 3 Stunden nach Hanoi. Nachdem wir wieder im Hotel Golden Lotus eingecheckt hatten, ging es zum Abendessen in die Stadt. Wir aßen in einem kleinen Lokal in der 2. Etage. Im Erdgeschoss wurde auf der Straße gekocht und gebraten. Vuong bestellte für uns ein Bun Cha - eine Suppe mit gebratenen Rindfleisch und Reis Ideen. Auf dem Tisch standen große Teller mit Kräutern (Koriander, rote u. grüne Brennnessel ...) Chili, gehackter Knoblauch - ein vortrefflicher Geschmack. Das Lokal hatte bereits mehrere Auszeichnungen, es war auch ein emsiges Kommen und Gehen. Die vielen Kellner hatten zu tun. Für uns ging es noch einmal in die Stadt Richtung Wasserpuppentheater. Hier kauften wir uns alle doch noch die kleinen lustigen Akteure des Theaterstückes. Den Abschluss des Tages verbrachten wir auf der Dachterrasse eines schönen Hotels mit leckeren Cocktails, Ruhe und einem fantastischen Blick.Read more

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    • TravelerVietnam Backpackers
      Day 5

      La crociera nella baia di Ha Long

      March 19, 2023 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

      Alzataccia alle 6:50. Colazione sotto l’aria condizionata gelata in hotel e pronti alle 7:55 per il pick up della navetta per uscire dal centro.

      Lasciamo la caotica Hanoi in pullman, assieme ad un gruppo di giapponesi e americani, diretti al porto di Ha Long. Ci aspettano due giorni di crociera attraverso uno dei luoghi più famosi del Vietnam: Ha Long Bay.

      La strada per uscire da Hanoi è piuttosto lunga e noiosa: abbiamo tempo per recuperare qualche minuto di sonno.
      Capiamo già dalla sosta obbligata prima di raggiungere il porto che l'esperienza che stiamo per fare nei prossimi due giorni sarà decisamente turistica. Ci fermiamo infatti, assieme ad altre decine di bus come il nostro, nei pressi di una pearl farm: una struttura sul mare dove appositamente vengono allevate le ostriche per la produzione di perle.

      Ci saranno state non meno di 300 persone ammucchiate in un capannone stretto dove, senza possibilità di scappare, vengono mostrate ai turisti come si inducono le ostriche vive a produrre le perle, come vengono poi scelte in base alla qualità e lavorate per farne collane o orecchini. Ovviamente infine, mega negozio in fondo al giro turistico.

      Risaliamo sul pullman e dopo solo venti minuti riscendiamo al molo, all'altezza della banchina Aspira Cruises. Salpiamo quindi con una prima barca verso Halong Bay e di fronte ai nostri occhi cominciano ad apparire le prime di 2000 isole di cui è composta.
      Uno spettacolo di vere e proprie montagne verdi che affiorano dall'acqua. Ci sembra di essere in un film, accompagnati ad esplorare un mondo alieno o qualche covo di pirati disperso nel mare.
      Addentrati tra le prime isole, vediamo apparire le prime navi da crociera: esattamente come su Below Deck, il reality sull'equipaggio delle barche di lusso, veniamo fatti salire a bordo, ci viene offerto il drink di benvenuto, poi il pranzo.
      Rimpinzati a dovere, veniamo accompagnati alle camere: delle vere stanze d'albergo, ognuna con la terrazza privata sul mare, con le isole aliene che scivolano silenziose all'orizzonte.

      Il programma della crociera è super serrato: dopo pochi minuti ci ritroviamo già in costume a remare su di un kayak in mezzo alle isole.

      Pagaiamo così immersi in un paesaggio che ci lascia ancora a bocca aperta, con il sole che fortunatamente si è fatto strada e colora le foreste le isole di un verde acceso. Passiamo addirittura dentro una grotta marina, per rispuntare in un’insenatura tra le montagne che potrebbe essere il nascondiglio perfetto per un tesoro dei pirati.

      Rientrati alla nave, io e Poli facciamo volare i droni dal ponte superiore, mentre Paolino e Veronica si fanno una nuotata in mare, girando attorno alla nave.
      Ultimo tuffo al volo e l’Aspira Cruise riparte.

      Happy hour ammirando il tramonto sulla baia bevendo birre, americani, whiskey sour e Martini.
      Ceniamo nel ristorante della nave, ma il cibo questa volta non ci piace. Abituati però ad essere cortesi e non volendo sollevare problemi, mentiamo allo chef dicendo che era tutto buonissimo.

      Quando sono le nove e mezza di sera, dopo aver dato uno sguardo sul ponte superiore alle tante navi come la nostra illuminate nel buio, andiamo a nanna ancora increduli del posto da sogno in cui ci troviamo.      Read more

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    • littlesistertravellingVietnam 2023
      Day 6

      Halong Tag 2

      April 16, 2023 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

      Heute geht's mit dem Boot durch die Halong Bay! Das Wetter ist deutlich besser als gestern, die Sonne kommt sogar etwas raus ☀️
      Die Tour ist noch viel cooler, als erwartet, und ich hab wieder tolle Menschen kennengelernt! Nach dem Mittagessen haben wir eine Speedboattour gemacht und später ging es noch durch eine Tropfsteinhöhle und auf einen Aussichtspunkt hoch😍 die Landschaft hier ist einfach unglaublich! 🤍Read more

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    • Frangela's Travels
      Day 21

      Ha Long Bay

      August 24, 2023 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

      Ha long bay is so busy, boats and tourists everywhere, its feels like a conveyour belt tourist attraction. All the tour shops were selling the same 2 cruises and itinery, we knew we wanted something just a bit different, different to what everyone else was doing and different to our experiences of the same 10 years ago.

      It seems that we had very different experiences, Angela getting a party boat which served oysters, and I as travelling in a group of 3, getting the short straw and having to share a room with Japanese Ken, who I'd never met before and rather enjoyed walking around naked, great! 👍 🙃

      Having finally decided on the right cruise for us, we booked, we would be spending x2 days and a night on Dora, Dora the Vietnamese Explorer. £250 for the trip on a 5* Luxury boat, which had a bathtub in each room with views of the bay, all meals included and with Limosine bus pick-up, and cruised around gracefully to enjoy the picturesque views, sounded perfect, right?

      Angela here now, as my experience was different to Francis', I'll do my recall as I remember. 'Dora' was a lovely boat, with a beautiful room and bathroom as Francis has stated. I was a little annoyed as its sister boat 'Gloria' which we was going to book but decided not to and to upgrade had broken down, so everyone on 'Gloria' got a free upgrade to our boat 'Dora'. On the plus side it did mean there were more people to potentially mingle with.

      On the boat there was a very tight schedule, but what was lovely was the view and calmness of it all, as we only had three other boats on our bay. If we had been on the main part, it would have been packed. Unfortunately there was quite a lot of plastic and rubbish immediately where the boats were, this did ruin the natural beauty of the place, especially for Francis, and he was not impressed.

      The highlights included karaoke, instrumental solo's (which only crew members took part!); Cocktails with new made Australian friends and locals coming to to ship trying to sell you cheap drink, which we took full advantage of (even though not meant to) because the prices on the boat was sky high! Francis also having a bath looking out in the ocean was not necessarily a highlight for me, but he seemed to enjoy it!

      Overall it was good, but I am in agreement that it is touristy and the schedule is too tight, if you're on a boat like that, you want to relax and go at your own pace 🙂      Read more

    • TravelerVietnam und Kambodscha
      Day 3

      Ha long Bucht

      November 20, 2023 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

      Nach 4 Stunden Busfahrt Richtung Süden erreichen wir die Bucht und checken auf einem Schiff ein. Die Ha long Bucht ist ein Pflichtprogramm jeder Vietnam Reise. Fast 2000 Inseln gehören zum Weltkulturerbe. Der Legende nach formte ein Drache diese Landschaft nachdem er hier ins Wasser fiel, Ha long bedeutet herabsteigender Drache. Nach ca. einer Stunde erreicht das Schiff den Ankerplatz, um uns herum jede Menge anderer Schiffe. Wir beziehen die Zimmer mit süßen kleinen Balkons und genießen im Liegestuhl einen gesüßt Kaffee und die Aussicht. Zu Mittag erhalten wir eine reichliche Auswahl von Seafood, Fleisch und Wasserspinat.
      Mit einem Boot erreichen wir die Insel Titov nach dem russischer Astronauten benannt, der sich hier mit Ho Chi Minh traf. Nach 420 Stufen genießt man einen herrlichen Ausblick. Das kalt/ warme Wasser sorgt für eine nette Abkühlung.
      Auf dem Deck unseren Schiffs genießen wir bei der letzten Rotfärbung des Himmels einen Cocktail in der happy hour. Vor den Abendessen werden wir in die Kunst des Rollens von Springrolls eingewiesen, die wir später zum Abendessen essen dürfen. Serviert werden Muscheln mit Kräutern, Tintenfisch, verschiedenes Fleisch mit Gemüse, Wasserspinat, zum Nachttisch Melone.
      An Deck werden 2 Filme zu Vietnam und den Menschen, die auf dem Wasser leben, gezeigt. Teddy, unser Guido, lädt uns zum Angeln von Tintenfischen ein. Wir fangen leider nichts.
      Auf einigen Schiffen um uns herum tobt das Nachtleben mit Karaoke singen.      Read more

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    • Traveling in tenthsThe last Leg of the first Ten
      Day 19

      Halong Bay, Vietnam

      April 7, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 4 °C

      Halong literally means the dragon's landing. A city and a bay with the same name sit on the northwest of Vietnam. Halong bay is fed by the China sea, and it's composed of thousands of islands of different sizes. Vietnamese people like to think that the bay homes 1969 islands, because this is the year when Ho Chi Min died. But in actuallity, the real number is a mistery, but estimates using satellite images proposed that there are more than 2000 islands. The story goes that Halong bay was formed by two dragons sent by the gods to help Vietnamese people defeat the invading enemy. These dragons fragmented the land by spitting fire and breaking it into many islands, to prevent the enemy from passing through. Halong bay is currently considered one of nature's wonders of the world. And it is indeed beautiful.
      Currently, many travel agencies offer tours on cruise ships which take you around the bay. I took a two day one night cruise, sleeping on the boat. There is also the option of sleeping in Cat Ba, one of the biggest islands with permanent inhabitants in it. Cat Ba also offers trekking, and hiking through its national park.
      A group of about 10 of us was picked up from Hanoi and driven up to the pier (about 5 hours). After we recovered one of our passengers which had been left behind by our very rude driver in one of his pit stops, we got on the boat and started our jouney, accompanied by our guide "Key" an overly friendly anticommunist vietnamese. We sailed into the bay for about 30 minutes while we had lunch. We then stopped, checked into our shared rooms, and were allowed to kayak around for 30 minutes. The kayaking was definitely the highlight of my Halong bay visit. The water is amazingly peaceful, and swaying around the green islands while taking in the majestic views in solitude was utterly relaxing. People jumped into the water from multiple ships after kayaking. I definitely didn't.
      At night we were surrounded by ten other ships, you can hear the music and laughter coming from some of them but all in all, halong bay is misty and quiet at night.
      We went to Cat Ba island's Trung Trang caves. This cave system is unique because it's still being shaped by the sea. The caves are 11 to 700 thousand years old, and they served as refuge and hospital to the locals during the Vietnam war. The trail is paved and the cave is illuminated, making it a very breezy visit. The only challenging part is that some of the passageways are very low and you have to make your way literally squating down.
      Overall, Halong bay is beautiful, and definitely worth paying the overpriced tours (you share rooms, get ramen noodles for breakfast, and have to overpay for even your water, and morning coffees separately for about 50 USD).
      My only major criticism goes to the Vietnamese people here (and maybe also to a few irresponsible tourists). Kayaking through the bay the pools of oil from the ships are immediately visible. And there is not a clean place in the water. There are so many bottles, shoes, boxes, pieces of styrofoam, left over fishing gear, and just general crap floating around. I saw how the boats, we were told there are around 400 of them in the bay- 300 of which are allowed overnight stays-, emptied their waters and disposed of the left overs from cooking right into the bay where people were swimming. I'm positive that if Vietnamese don't take a stand to protect their distinctive national scenic landscape, it will soon loose its appeal, hindering their significant income from tourism. Most importantly, this disregard for conservation is a threat to the unique wildlife found here, some of which is already endangered (like the Cat Ba Langur monkeys). It is heartbreaking.      Read more

    • TravelerPhin, Pho & Phun
      Day 14

      Halong Bay Day 1

      July 4, 2017 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

      Monday 3rd July
      Breakfast at the hotel (7th Floor, overlooking Hanoi) before checking out, taking only an overnight bag and getting collected by the minibus from Galaxy Cruises, our selected company for our Halong Bay Cruise. There were 17 on the bus, 6 in our bunch, 1 Aussie couple from Harvey Bay, 1 family of 4 from Adelaide, a family of 3 from Hobart and a couple from NZ / Malaysia. After collecting everyone we headed off on the 4 hour trip to Halong Bay.
      Our tour guide was Hieu (Hugh, as in Hugh Grant, handsome man!!) who we later discover is also our entertainer (magic tricks), educator (information), cooking instructor, Tia Chi master, food waiter and chief organiser. Hieu started off by giving us a history lesson about Vietnam, it wars (and therefore its successes), Ho Chi Minh, Halong Bay and general information. He was very particular about historical dates and could recite any major event in Vietnam history. Plus he gave us the usual speech about the wonderful socialist country but he was also open about the corruption.
      The trip took us through some countryside where traditional farming takes place, mostly rice but also lots of fruit & vegetables. Saw a few tractors but most work is done with a small walk-behind tractor, like a rotary hoe, and hand labour. Didn't see any but apparently the water buffalo are still commonly used. There is major construction happening along the way, roads, houses & factories being built but looks like the standard of constructon is still average and haphazard at best. As we have seen elsewhere, the roads in the towns are lined with small shops of every description and a brisk trade was being had. The roads are still rough with Therrie & Ross being bounced around in the back seat.
      We had a half way stop at a factory / shop where products are made by disabled people and some beautiful artifacts were available for sale.
      Finally we made it to Halong Bay and after a brief wait we got on a small tender and motored our way out to our cruise boat. The whole marina area is quite modern and some huge resorts are being / newly built. There were hundreds of cruise boats scattered along the marina. After instructions we checked in, our cabins were comfortable but as we were to discover, hard beds. Assembled for lunch while the boat made its way out into the bay, along with about 100 others. We also met our other cruise members - a young South African couple and a family of 4 also from South Africa. 23 passengers in total plus about 7 or 8 crew who all were involved in multiple tasks from sailing the boat to serving food & drink, cleaning, etc.
      The day was still very hazy and overcast so it was very warm and humid and viewing of the islands was spectacular but a bit limited. The bay is made up of thousands of limestone islands that rise above the water and provide a very sheltered bay.
      After a while of winding its way around numerous islands we drop anchor and we are ferried over to 1 large island which houses the Sung Sot Cave (Amazing Cave) where we joined thousands of other visitors in walking through a series of immense caves, naturally formed by sea water & erosion. Quite spectacular and Hieu gave us information about the different structures & shapes that are found throughout.
      Back on the boat and travelled a short distance to Ti Top Island, a small but very tall island that has its own natural beach. We were offloaded there and had the choice of walking up to the lookout or swimming.
      Sue, Louisa & Peter took the hard slog option of the 425 steps to the top, reaching the summit just in time for the rain to start, which was quite warm but refreshing. Made the steps down slippery & and a bit more hazardous but we all got back down safely. None of us chose the swimming - the water was luke warm and with the vast number of boats & people, plenty of rubbish in the water.
      Wet, sweaty & thirsty we were ferried back to our boat where it moved back out into the bay and made anchor for the night. I counted 28 boats all within our bay, so there was no clear view but it was very quiet across the water (except for the occassional sounds of Karaoke from another boat). Pretty soon we were assembled for dinner and more instructions and some time for drinks and getting aquainted with our fellow passengers. Most people participated and some good conversations got going and a few laughs were had.
      After dinner Hieu entertained us with some nifty magic tricks and then people dispersed to their cabins or up onto the top deck for a relax & chat.
      Was calm on the water but very humid until a couple of thunderstorms went across during the night which cooled things off and cleared the air.

      Weather was very warm about 32C & very humid.

      Highlights
      * Halong Bay tour (Galaxy Premium Tour) and Hieu our guide;
      * Halong Bay - remarkable scenery;
      * Sung Sot cave;
      * Ti Top Island;
      * Great time on the boat      Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Hang Gai

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