A little while ago Faith and I wanted a short vacation for a recharge and to re-energise; After some deliberation we decided Vietnam would be a good place to do that. We had not been before and had been told everyone speaks English there, which we found later to be completely false, and that it was a good-value destination.
After a little more research we decided that as part of that trip we would like to go on a cruise on Ha Long Bay in a new, but traditionally-styled Chine Junk.
Cua Van floating village
We landed in Hanoi, realised no bugger spoke English very well, and spent some time there but it's Ha long Bay that this post is about. After making the long and bumpy journey from Hanoi to where we were boarding the boat our adventure began, and what a gteat adventure it was!
The crew were amazingly friendly, as was everyone in Vietnam, and made us feel very welcome. On the tender from the wharf to the Junk we met a Cornish couple, older than us, but quite friendly and had a chat; More about them later.
Once aboard we were shown where the dining room was and were invited to pre-cruise drinks after settling into our room which we were ushered to by a very friendly young lady.
A word on our room...When booking we noticed they had two Royal Suites and that they were only $200AUD more over the entire cruise than the standard room so that's what we booked. It was large, had a full-sized bathroom and its own front deck right at the bow, private to us. It also came with a dedicated person to look after us. Nice one, and $200 of value for sure.
We settled in then went up for pre-cruise drinks and a mingle with whomever was there.
There was only 20 passengers on the cruise which was great! As it turned out we ended up clicking with that Cornish couple I mentioned and spent pretty-much the whole cruise with them including shore-visits for bike riding and a cool cave visit to Thien Cung cave, a huge natural grotto that has intricate stalactite & stalagmite formations which they light up in different colours. It's pretty cool. They were a pretty fun couple and as it turns out we stayed friends with them and visited in Cornwall for a week some time later.
We also went kayaking through caves and grottos including one which we had to duck down to get through; It lead into a completely enclosed bay with the only way in or out via the cave. It was cool!
Of course, Ha Long Bay is famous for its floating villages which we also visited. We were able to wander about Cua Van Floating Village, taxied by our own personal boatie, saw the small school and interacted with the kids and learned a little more about their lives.
Relaxing on board was pretty easy but they never had a shortage of things to do if one wanted to be entertained.
We sat around and read a lot though, chatted over drinks with our new Cornish friends, Tom and Gill, and we ate a lot too. The food was amazing, all prepared on the day by the chefs and of an incredibly high standard. Tom and I even got involved one night when we had a Cornwall versus Australia spring roll making contest. I lost that one, but won the eating contest!
We went swimming off the boat, fishing at night for squid and Faith had the best relaxing-massage ever! I snuck in and have a photo of it but I can't show it here as it's a little revealing and she'd bloody kill me!
We always have books with us when we travel so each afternoon we'd head back to our room and relax with a book and some cool drinks for an hour, have a little snooze and then emerge for pre-dinner drinks and some mingling.
It was all quite civilised... Until faith volunteered us for Tai Chi in the morning at 6am...It went something like this...
The Tai Chi deck, otherwise known as the top deck. They cleared away the lounges and we Tai Chi'd up here from 6am and then had breakfast. I was the worse Tai Chi'er of the bunch - Naturally Faith was good at it...She yoga's.
Ha Long Bay, is in northeast Vietnam and is well known for emerald waters and its towering limestone islands which are covered by rain forest. Junk boat tours ply its waters and kayak expeditions are also very popular. It is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site and is one of the most beautiful places one could visit.
We found it to be serene and calming although I have heard that it is becoming somewhat more busy and that some of the floating villages have been removed to make way for big commercial operations; I think that's a little sad.
As those huge limestone pillars and islands floated by we were treated to amazing views and great sunsets. The cruise was both relaxing and fun-filled, a nice balance of both.
The view from the private deck at the front of our suite...We sat out here a bit and read our books, sipped cool drinks and relaxed when we weren't doing activities or hanging out with Tom and Gill.
Overall our experience was a good one. The cruise staff were really friendly and professional, the junk itself was in good condition, clean and well-appointed and one certainly couldn't complain about the view or activities. We would definitely do this again and I'd recommend it to anyone visiting the area. It was pretty affordable and an experience one should not miss!
At some stage I'll write a post about Hanoi and some of the other things we did in Vietnam but for now...G-dog to the tai chi deck...Nah, just kidding, my tai chi days are over.
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Be well
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