Halong Bay, Vietnam

As from the title above, after 3 years I'm once back to Vietnam again. Shall talk more about Vietnam in a summary post later. This is specifically a post for a place in Hanoi where tourist often bragging on, Halong Bay!

It was a 4 hours journey from the Hanoi city to Halong Bay which is somewhere near the ocean. From the internet, you probably see images of how beautiful is Halong Bay with limestone of various shape and size that forms naturally after years, it is a UNESCO world heritage site afterall.

By the way, we booked all our tour and tickets from the hotel we stayed so the price might differ from yours, you can get cheaper tour and tickets from the street, there's a lot of agents around. Because we felt convenient and safer to have everything from where we stay, what we need to do is just wake up early and wait at the reception counter for the tourist guide to pick us up. And also by booking everything from the hotel, we managed to bargain for a cheaper price and free taxi the next morning to the airport (yeah!).

We opt for a one day tour to Halong Bay that cost us USD59, we after that saw an agent that offer USD30 only. Anyway, one day is really not enough to explore the island as to and fro already took almost up to 8 hours, we literally stay on the boat/cruise for only 3 - 4 hours only. Definitely recommend you to book at least a 2 days 1 night cruise. You will know why while you read the post towards the end, we definitely felt disappointed probably setting an expectation too high.

 

Once entered the boat/cruise, we are served with 10-course dishes but all I felt it was just okay. After lunch, we are allowed to go up to the upper deck for some breeze and photo shooting. And that was all, we got bored after that. There are too many cruises on the sea, you either got too confused on how the sailor ride the boat without banging into each other or was stunned with the luxury cruise others are riding. I guess our cruise/boat just briefly ride towards the 2 main attractions for activities because I don't get beautiful limestone scenery photo like others do.

Our first stop is this bamboo boat that you got nothing to be astonished of, the local people basically just row one small circle at an exclusive zone and that's all. This post seems more towards complaining as opposed to a proper travel post. Anyway, what I wanted to highlight here is there are actually two options here whereby you are given choices to choose from bamboo boat and kayaking. You anyhow must opt for kayaking, even though you don't know how to swim or kayak or probably will fall into the sea. Because you can spend time kayak as much as you can there maybe master your kayak skill or even if you really fall into the sea you might have fun getting yourself wet with the safety life jacket on you than riding on a normal boat they called it the bamboo boat (probably the boat is made of bamboo but I don't care because it looks super normal) for around 15mins only. 

P/s: I got very emotional here but if you really don't know how to swim and are afraid of water, do still opt for the bamboo boat because life is precious.

Later, we are brought to Thien Cung cave which is our second destination and also the last. This cave is very cooling and has lots of natural formation of stalactites and stalagmites where the tour guide will point on each with their touch light while telling you story/legend about it. Obviously I don't remember all but still managed to recall the gold turtle and the lovely couple marriage. Try to spot it from the photo if you can. I do zoom the lens into it and snap but poor imagination of mine can't spot it back without guidance.

 

Not to forget this, I remember. They called it the roof of heaven. You see light ray shines in.

 

I like it best here as you can see from the amount of photo I took. Firstly is the temperature in it, supercooling, it was like walking into a natural air-conditional room. Secondly, it is less touristy here and I'm free to walkabout. Thirdly, this view is definitely beautiful with the help of the extra light they built in.

 

That's the end of my one day trip to Halong Bay from Hanoi. In conclusion, don't go for a one-day trip in Halong Bay, definitely not worthy as the scheduled is too rushing and tiring (I had dinner that day at around 9pm, super hungry). I did not do as much homework as I should and had already booked my stay all in advance and hence I couldn't alter my schedule. But, I still believe Halong Bay is pretty just that I did not have the time to explore more.

Trip with Colleagues to Tioman Island

Waking up at 5am in the morning ready to drive to Tanjung Gemok jetty. My first on driving long journey, it took me 5 hours to reach. We eat in the car and chat and joke a little, wasn't too far I supposed. We drive from dark to dawn slightly bright experiencing tiny raindrops and heavy rain which almost blurred the whole front view, I drive accordance with the front lorry tail light. Coming back is worst, pouring rain for almost the whole journey, plus my passenger's napping beside me.

Reaching around 10.30am, have some time hanging around at the jetty, nothing to do actually (you can come later because it's actually very boring but do be punctual). Waiting for another colleague car to arrive. Parking the car at someone's house they offer near the jetty for RM10 a day which I think is worthy of my car safety.

Our ferry departed very punctually, time as stated on the ticket. Cataferry is the one we took. You can book online, it's a lot like booking flight. It requires name and IC they checked while you boarding and you can choose your own seat they have standard and premium. Also you can climb to the top to enjoy the wind. I get a bit dizzy while I'm on top but still I managed to get a few beautiful shots. 

This ferry is good. The seats are wide. You can have enough space to move around. With good air conditional and tv to watch. You can book early for a cheaper price. But make sure it's better for you to buy a two-way ticket. Most of the company don't sell one-way ticket, you probably will face the same problem like us where no company wants to offer a return ticket only. Luckily we managed to buy it at the counter. We came back with a different ferry as the timing offer is not valid for us.

 

 

After departing, Berjaya's resort does offer a free ride from the jetty to the lobby for check-in. All in all, the resort is somehow deserted from the city so you need to rent a car or bike to drive out. By walking, it probably takes you 20 mins or more, it depends on how active do you sport as you need to cross a small hill where most of my colleagues can't :P So we basically spent our first day in the resort room and swimming pool, having our lunch and dinner also at the nearest restaurant which is located just outside the resort. We tried both.

This is one of the restaurants I prefer over the 2 choices. This is Warong Syahirah located nearest to the gate on your right. Basically, it's more to Malay food. Ordered the Nasi Goreng Pattaya for lunch and the other night Kuey Teow Goreng Pattaya, it was good, not to mention the portion was actually quite big. I love the drinks too, namely lime rose iced. Price wise quite fair as the food quality wasn't bad.

 

The second restaurant is more to a Chinese seafood restaurant you probably order plain rice and a few dishes to complimentary with it. The food is good but portion wise not big, we ordered in medium. While for drinks, they have not many choices for you to select, mostly can or bottle drinks (alcohol drinks too). And also there's a lot of flying insects where it does attack your food or drinks. I found one insect in my drink :(

 

On the second day, we opt on renting a jeep RM250 to tour around the island. The road is steep and lots of turns, some are more than 30 degrees I supposed, but still, the driver can ride the jeep at full speed. Imagine our load, I mean my colleagues' weight :P It was very adventurous I can say with the leaves and stem that bend, you need to bend down your body at the same time when passing through.

This is also where I missed by snorkelling :( My colleagues do not favour water, even the driver offer RM90/pax for 5 snorkelling spots, so cheap! Next time, I will! You know, I never actually did snorkelling except the Indonesia unofficial one doesn't count because that's basically near the beach not in deep water, I did not wear a life jacket and was just purely swimming with some beautiful corals. Oh, not to forget swimming halfway water actually enter my mask or snorkel so I need to wear it back at the right position I actually step on a coral to do the adjustment. It was deep for people who don't know how to swim and some swim further but not me because hey when you don't have a life jacket with you, you are not safe. I probably still don't know how to use the snorkel.

 

Our first stop, Juara waterfall. A 5 minutes track down the main entrance. It's a tiny waterfall at the back, we do not spend much time here. Just a few photos and off we go. For people who don't want to dirty themselves on the beach with sand could probably spend a longer time here because the weather here is quite cooling and fresh as it's all surrounded by trees.

 

 

Our second stop, breakfast at the Juara beach. This is very western one where we ordered plain pancake with honey, tomato cheese omelette, tuna omelette and tuna sandwich to share among three of us with our regular coffee black and white and milo. Total bill cost us RM33, not too expensive I supposed. I love the omelette served. And also the staffs are friendly, considering service is good.

 

Our third stop is the beach! Finally some water at the Paya Beach Resort. The weather is just nice, not too hot for me to enjoy some breeze. 

Verdict: I actually spent more time in the resort swimming pool :P Is not that the beach here is no good but no one love water here, I mean my colleague that follow along, weird. As you can see at the photo below, only the one captured their leg touching the water actually touched the water >.<

 

Fourth stop, the Marine Park. You can see fish here bare eye on top of the water. The only place I can see fish because I did not snorkel. (This whole post is about me rambling how much I did not when for snorkelling, oops). Anyway, the water here is really clear. It's not photo for illusion purpose. It is this way though I did edit the photos a little using the simplest Microsoft. You can buy bread for RM2 to feed the fish so all the fishes actually swim up to the surface. If you are lucky, you can spot colourful highlight fish. We spot one!

 

 

It was afternoon already, so we had our lunch here at Babura Seaview restaurant which I highly recommend. Price together with the portion is actually very reasonable. We ordered all in large portion because there's only two option, but it tasted really good. The chicken with almond and their tom yam mixed especially full of ingredients.

Lastly, of course, duty-free shop and some shopping for the souvenir. I bought a bottle of red wine back. They sell also the mini version of lots alcholic drinks including whisky, rum, vodka and etc. But I know nothing about them. My colleague did buy back for decoration purpose anyway, it's really pretty some.

Basically, it was near evening already after the whole jeep journey. We went back for some rest. I and my roommate decided to swim in the swimming pool for a while before dinner, we had not enough fun with the water yet since we are on the island already. Having simple dinner near the Warong again for more rest. Check out as early as 7.30am the other day morning to catch our ferry at 9am. Had instant cup noodles as stalls are not opened yet to serve us. So this is how I spent 3 days 2 nights in Tioman Island (actually 2 days 2 nights).