Visit the famous Halong Bay and its caves

For our last day, we had booked our tour of Halong Bay for the day when we arrived the day before. We left early. The minibus was full to the brim… A cute little girl will be less so once she starts whining… Apart from that, time passes, about 3 hours to reach Halong City, including a break.

hanoi street - vietnam 2010

Waiting for the minibus to Halong Bay.

It is at this break that we will meet the couple Mika and Cynthia, they chose the same day to leave here, except that they will stay there for 2 days.

We arrive at the port, listen to the guide who gives us our tickets and join our boat, it's a bit like a herd... He strongly advises us not to buy from the street vendors on their small boats, who dock on ours to generally sell fruit, apparently because of the repatriation insurance issue not taken into account (the food apparently not being the most reliable...), at least that's the official reason.

The cook was busy in his corner. There are many boats on the docks surrounding us. On the positive side, our boat is not crowded.

Disappointment in Halong Bay

Unfortunately, this day is spoiled by rotten weather, fog in particular, which considerably spoils the experience. But in the end Halong Bay is for me just a kind of Krabi / Phang Nga Bay bis, these big cliffs, these rocks lost in the middle of the fleet, it's similar.

Especially since if the bay is famous for its "thousands of islands" the fog prevents you from seeing properly, and in any case, they are not all close together as I thought, in short, I am quite disappointed... Lunch is offered, not really to my taste, I was left hungry...

[EDIT 2017: With hindsight and today's information, I would have gone there from Cat Ba Island, because it is less crowded and apparently, a good plan rather than falling into the "classic" tour of agencies from Hanoi.... Well, that goes back to 2010, it was basically our first trip together...]

Moreover, I was shocked by the smoke from some boats, which clearly dishonored nature... We passed floating villages, a few inhabitants going about their business.

Before eating, we visit a fish "farm", well visit, it is especially for those who would like to possibly treat themselves to a fresh fish to cook to add to the meal. After that, navigation in the area to reach a cave.

Fart fart…

The Cave of Wonders

We arrive at the quay, in our case (it must depend on the tours you take), it was the cave of the celestial palace also called the cave of wonders (Dong Thien Cung in Vietnamese).

This one is located on the island of Dau Go (where there is another cave bearing the name of the island), located only 4 km from the pier from where we left, this cave was only discovered in 1993!

After climbing the stairs and passing through a narrow entrance, the cave opens up into a space 130 m long. According to legend, a beautiful girl named May (Cloud) won the heart of the Dragon Prince, and their sumptuous wedding took place in the middle of the cave, lasting seven days and seven nights.

Little dragons flew between the stalactites and stalagmites, elephants danced, serpents coiled around the stone trees, and above the island eagles spread their broad wings in the vastness of the sky. The lively atmosphere of this marriage, attended by the genies of the northern and southern stars, seems to have become fossilized on the walls of the cave.

At least that's what the guide was trying to explain by showing patterns and shapes that can be distinguished based on the shadows...

Return to Hanoi and last moments of this first stay in Vietnam

I was quite impressed by the beauty of the place, intelligently lit by various colours highlighting the stalagmites, -tites or columns, all in a fairly large space, perhaps the most interesting of this day in the end.

Back on dry land, we were treated to a driver in a hurry, a real reckless driver, overtaking at every turn, not slowing down on bumps and ignoring the trucks coming the other way, we thought we were going to die and I was starting to get a serious headache... When we got to the break, well when we left, his calm, proportionally speaking, suggested that we had escaped I don't know how many accidents, all so that mister could go to the toilet as quickly as possible...

Once in town, we had to go to a French restaurant that I had spotted in a magazine. We decided to take a cyclo (rickshaw) for that after having negotiated hard.

Unfortunately, the high prices scared us away, and we wandered around for a while before finally finding a very good place, by the way, and concluded our trip to Vietnam.

last meal hanoi 2010