Visited: Oct 26-27, 2024
First Day in the Famous Ha Long Bay
On our third morning in Vietnam, we took a bus from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay to start our 3 Day, 2 Night Ha Long Bay cruise. It was a very comfortable bus with roomy seats making the almost 3-hr ride pleasant. We arrived at the M’Gloria office, our cruise company, and checked in and waited to board our boat.
We boarded a smaller transport boat which took us out to our cruise ship further out in the bay. Aside from the Flores to Lombok boat in Indonesia liveaboard, I had never done a cruise before. Our M’Gloria cruise boat was fortunately the polar opposite of the Wanua boat. Our boat was beautiful and fancy. Once aboard, I was surprised to see that it looked like a nice classic hotel inside. We immediately were ushered upstairs to the restaurant where we had a multi-course lunch which was pretty good and were given our welcome orientation for what to expect over the next three days.
After lunch we explored the upper decks of the boat and I was blown away. It was so spacious and beautiful with plenty of seating and areas to hang out. There was a bar, a hot tub/pool, and even a small gym. The views all around were already stunning with the countless little islands dotting the bay. I was in love. We then finally checked into our room which was also beautiful. We had a private bathroom, AC, beds, and a balcony. This boat experience was going to be much better than in Indonesia.
Our first stop of the day was kayaking in a picturesque area. I rode a double kayak with Kim. It was so breathtaking paddling around on the water. Seeing the landscape from the water level provides a completely different experience from high up on the boat. It was such a fun activity.
In the early evening, we went to the outdoor bar for happy hour and enjoyed the sunset from the upper deck with our cocktails. Kim and I also participated in a cooking class making egg rolls that would be served at dinner. It was pretty fun.
Dinner was a big self-serve buffet. I was impressed by the variety and taste and as per usual, ate too much. The crew announced that “squid fishing” was a nighttime activity so we went to try it. I thought “squid fishing” was catching squid, but it turned out to be normal fishing using a plastic squid shaped bait. We patiently waited for about 30 minutes before giving up. Even the crew told us that it was very rare that someone catches anything. Then we went to bed.
A Day Excursion Biking Around Cat Ba Island
On our second day, we took a smaller boat to Cat Ba Island where we biked to the village of Viet Hai on the eastern side of the island. It was a very pleasant and scenic bike ride through lush green mountains. We learned that this was a filming location for the latest King Kong movie and took a couple picture breaks.
Viet Hai village was very small but still built up for tourists along a road. We stopped at a cafe/restaurant where we learned about the island. A large part of the island is a national park and there are very endangered endemic species that only exist on the island, including the Cat Ba langur, of which only 68 are estimated to remain. However, we didn’t go to the national park on this trip. We also got to try some moonshine, including one infused with a snake! It didn’t taste any different than any other moonshine. After the talk, we tried dipping our feet in a pool with lots of fish that eat dead skin. I have done this before, but usually the fish are very small so you don’t feel too much. Here, the fish were much bigger so it was much more ticklish and prickly so it was hard to keep our feet in for long.
We had a bit more time to bike around the village before we had to bike back to our boat. Unfortunately, it started to rain so we biked back in the windy rain. I was so cold when we got back to the boat. Luckily, the crew had towels for us. On the ride back to our big boat, the crew told us that due to incoming storms, the entire Ha Long Bay had to be evacuated. And therefore, the second night of our cruise would be cancelled. However, he did not have any details on if the company would be providing a hotel, where we would be sleeping, if we were still being transported to our arranged locations, if we were getting a refund, etc. Some of the tourists started getting impatient and angry.
An Abrupt Ending to the Cruise
Once we got back to the big M’Gloria boat, the situation was not much better. Our cruise crew also did not have any information about what was going to happen to us. Many people were yelling at the poor crew who didn’t know what to do. It was surprising to me that the crew seemed so confused since this can’t be the only time a cruise had to be cut short. It seemed there was no protocol for the crew to follow. We were disappointed, but knew that this was no one’s fault besides the company management so tried to stay out of the arguing.
Before we had to head back to land, we got to go kayaking one more time. It was dark and a little stormy, but we decided to get in the water for a quick ride. It was evening by the time we got back to land, and unfortunately, logistics still were not resolved even by the company’s land staff. There were two big buses to take everyone back to Hanoi even though we (and others) had previously arranged transport to other places. We were able to separately book a private ride to Ninh Binh and waited for our ride in the office. Then things got really chaotic as the passengers started fighting amongst themselves. A majority of the hungry and tired passengers wanted to leave for Hanoi now but were being held up by a minority of people waiting in the office for refunds. Because we were quietly waiting and not harassing staff, they actually processed our refund first – not being mean or aggressive can pay off!
Our ride came before the ruckus was resolved and we were happy to be leaving the tense and stressful situation behind. We stopped for a quick dinner on the way and arrived at our homestay in Ninh Binh after 11pm. We were luckily able to book an additional night at the homestay we had reserved already and swifty checked in and went to bed.
Despite the hiccup, I thought Ha Long Bay was incredibly beautiful and worth the hype. I had read a lot of reviews online where people said that it was overrated and not worth it. But I couldn’t disagree more. Even though it was cloudy and rainy during our trip, it could not hide the beauty of the area. I could see why people saw the islands and called it “descending dragon” – the thousands of tiny islands look like dragons. I would love to come back and further explore the area and Cat Ba Island.
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