Halong Bay - different

On Thursday, we have been to Halong Bay. Luckily, a few puzzle pieces came together and we experienced the magical quiet bay in private. But, let me start from the beginning.

When planning, my attention was drawn to cruise ships with overnight stays, the vast majority of which offer just that. Most of them load a high number of guests, offer buffets and activities, sometimes even on the ship. In addition, you have to dig deeper into your pockets if you want the room to look like a good hotel room, >€400.

Also, such trips end the next morning at 9 a.m. We are definitely against crowds and even more against activities animation.

To reduce the uncertainty, I asked our hotel in Hanoi for support then came up with day tours after some back and forth, that are also offered. "Amazing Sails" has a traditional boat for this (also means old in the sense of: could do with some renovation 🙂), takes a maximum of 14 guests per tour, which lasts 7 hours, sails a different route than all the overnight boats and offers a served lunch.

We were picked up from the hotel at 7.15 am in a 4-seater SUV. There is a new highway connection, so the drive only took 2.5 hours. We were surprised that no other guests from the other hotels were collected. Only on the ship did it become absolutely clear that we were the only guests, only a table for 2 was set for lunch!

Not only could we use the entire upper deck and choose between rocking chairs and sofas, but we could also influence the program. We canceled both the kayaking and the climb up to an artificial pavilion. Unbelievable that they built a pavilion on a mini island just so the tourists could get a panoramic view.

After visiting the Sung Sot Cave, the captain of our ship suggested that we sail to a secluded corner to spend some time there. So we had the pleasure of being the only ship far and wide there and experiencing the true bay in silence. Thank you! 🥰

A little background info for those who are interested. Halong translates as descending dragon. Yes, we Asians have it with the dragons, but it was the French who gave the place this name. Before that it was called Emerald Sea, the water is really green like emeralds.

By the way, sail boats from the Clipper Race round the world is just stopping at the Halong Bay.