Halong Bay, Vietnam

There were so many bad reviews of Halong Bay cruises, I was somewhat nervous about the one we ended up booking. I didn’t get the most expensive cruise but it certainly wasn’t the cheapest either. The reviews of Dragon’s Pearl seemed okay so I hoped for the best.

Pick up at our hotel went smoothly with one stop on route. As was typical of late, the day was dull, dreary and cold. I was freezing and sat shivering in the van my thin sarong wrapped around me. Little did I know it would only colder! After a 2 ½ hour drive, the van unloaded us at the Indochina building at the bay and we waited in a holding area for our guide. There were so many boats out on the water, it was quite unbelievable.

Eventually Ahn, our tour guide, greeted us with smiles, a punky haircut, and fairly decent English. There were 19 of us on a boat with 10 cabins. He led us out onto the dock to a smaller boat for the transfer and off we went to the Dragon’s Pearl.

Ahn explained that the Vietnamese government wants all tour boats painted white – which doesn’t suit the traditional look and tour companies hope the government will change their minds. It’s apparently some form of control – they can easily recognize a tour boat if painted white.

Our cabin was small, barely big enough for the bed, which was solid – about as hard as the floor. The bathroom was nice with a decent sized shower that had plenty of hot water. There was an a/c unit above the bed on heat and I was very glad we had that!

We met in the dining room and Ahn went over the itinerary with us. Going on the 2 night cruise meant we could travel to places less frequented by other boats so I was happy about that. An 8 course lunch was served and was delicious. Our fellow passengers were great – we met another Wendy and Ian from Canada (what are the chances of that!) – living in Australia, a lovely Irish couple on their honeymoon (a nurse and a carpenter – again, what a coincidence!), a Holland couple living in Brunei etc.

The boat headed out and though the day was dull, the scenery was spectacular. I wanted to snap photo after photo.

There are nearly 2 thousand limestone outcrops jutting up and out of the emerald water, many with caves and sharp ridges.

We stood freezing on deck taking it all in. I kept adding layers of clothing until I had 5 tops on and my sarong as a scarf. I was glad I had kept my gloves from our bike trip. For awhile, I stood in our warm cabin and watched from the windows. Eventually we came to a stop for some kayaking and most went even though it meant wet bums.

 Ahn led us around one of the limestone islands – it is easy to see how someone could get lost. Afterwards some brave souls went for a swim –

 Ian said he’d never been swimming in such cold water, even in northern Ontario. Crazy guy.

 Hot showers and tea followed and soon it was dinner – another huge spread of food, all delicious. We sat and chatted for awhile with the other guests and then headed to bed. I woke up with a headache – I’m sure it’s because the bed AND pillows were so hard. I had that headache for two days.

The sun never came out but honestly, we couldn’t get too discouraged, the scenery remained spectacular. Our next stop was a floating fishing village. Young women rowed over in their boats to collect us and off we went.

 We each got traditional hats to wear on the journey over – a good thing because it was drizzling out.

Everyone was in great spirits despite the weather. The village was small with brightly coloured homes connected by docks.

The boats deposited us on a floating covered dock where we met the village chief. He served us tea and welcomed us to the village. Indochina, the company who owns Dragon’s Pearl, works together with the village to keep the bay clean. We were shown a typical home – very tiny – and the small school. Children attend elementary school only as secondary school is in the city and as Ahn explained, no one in the village thought it was important enough to send their children to. Swimming and rowing however were essential and taught before reading and writing.

 It was an eye opening experience for all of us. The people there lived so simply with little luxuries – a TV was it. During bad monsoons the village would be evacuated leaving only the chief to watch over things.

We made our way back to the boat and were on our way to a cave. Kayaking was in order and Ian went – it was too cold for me.

Afterwards we napped in our warm cabin before getting ready for dinner in a CAVE!

The crew worked very hard setting this up – they had to carry all the food and plates etc. up the stairs and into the cave itself. The entire way was lit with candles and it was all very romantic. When we entered the cave we were met with stalactites and stalagmites – and more candles.

A long table was set with a linen table cloth, cutlery, dishes and candles, and everything looked stunning. Each meal required a new centre piece – a stork carved from radish, a dragon from pumpkin, a replica of our boat, etc. It was impressive. We had such a glorious time! After dinner we all met back in the dining room on the boat for some further conversation before retiring to bed.

The next day, Ian wasn’t feeling so well – flu bug? So he took it easy. I watched the scenery from the warmth of the cabin with the occasional trip outside for some photos.

We had an early light lunch on the boat before heading into the bay where we loaded onto the smaller boat for our transfer to shore. Ahn was missing so we had to turn around to get him and then we all realized another couple were missing so again, back we went. It was all good fun.

Everyone loved the trip and the people we got to know were just super. It was definitely a highlight!