We arrived at Hanoi Guest House when it was still dark. We took a shower and had some rest at the lobby before we were served with breakfast. Shortly after the breakfast, we had to depart for a 2D1N Halong Bay cruise tour. Halong Bay was one of the UNESCO heritage site. We signed up this tour through Hanoi Guest House at usd62/person. There were many Halong Bay tours at different price, cheapest at usd3x to the super vip at usd1xx. In this post, I am going to show you what I got for the price I paid and hopefully it will help you in deciding the right tour.
It was surprised to see Vietnamese transferred the living pigs on bike.
As usual for tours, we stopped at the souvenior shop for a short break.
In two hours, we reached Halong Bay jetty.
We boarded the cruise and started our journey.
When we boarded the cruise, we were served with hot towel and welcome drink. We were relieved because the cruise was new and the quality of the tour looked good.
The upper photo was a double deck cruise for day tour whereas the second photo above was a triple deck for overnight tour. We were on a cruise similar to lower picture.
This was a bigger cruise as compared to the one we had.
The highest deck was a open deck for sunlight and sea breeze. But as Asian, we enjoyed the few sheltered seats available. The middle deck was a cozy dining place.
The cruise had 8 rooms, 4 doubles and 4 twins. This also meant that the cruise could only handle small tour with 16 person maximum.
Lunch was served on the cruise. The top left dish was a appetizer that had received praises from everyone. It was cucumber slice seasoned with garlic, chili, sugar and vinegar.
Red wine or beer for your meal? No problem. They have it all, you just have to pay for it.
After lunch, some chose to enjoy sunbath at the open deck. In fact, we stayed at the open deck for most of the time to enjoy the great scenery.
One of the activity in the afternoon was to visit the caves at Halong Bay.
The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes.
You could still find grocery shop in Halong Bay. :)
Then when it was not so hot, we were off for kayaking.
kayak and sunset - one of my favourite shot of the day.
At night, each cruise parked at their comfortable location.
We had more dishes for dinner. And, the dinner chat continued until we were too tired to chat.
The next morning, we had some simple breakfast, bread, butter, jam, egg, banana and coffee.
Then it was time to settle the bill according to your room number. After that,we left Halong Bay and returned to the jetty.
Lunch was at one of the restaurant near the jetty.
Snake for lunch? Of course not, but this was the display in most of the restaurant.
Lunch was as good as the previous meals.
And this time we had free vietnam beer for lunch.
We were taking the front seat in the minivan. The driver was repeating this dangerous overtaking skill all the way back to Hanoi.
6 comments:
Does the USD62 Cover Food, Canoe & Cab from Hanoi? All inclusive?
Yes, everything except drinks on board. They will pick you from your hotel at Hanoi and drop you back at the same place. Are you planning a trip to Vietnam? :)
Yeap, before 2012 December...hehe..
And for this Cruise, it can be book from the hotel? or over the internet?
If 2012, you still have time to do it. ;)
In Vietnam, you can book the tours from any hotels or travel agents. You can easily find hundreds of them in the old quarters. But you have to be careful as some of them are not reliable.
For my trip, I booked it through the hotel via email.
yo.... the most "memorable" thing i can ever recall is the overtaking skill of the drivers! all nge nge lai!!
bloody dangerous..... the highways there are very bumpy as well and they have no intention of taking care of their vehicles speeding over bumpy area recklessly. an eye-opener nevertheless!
Hi Hugo,
Are you here to remind me that I have long due posts? ;)
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