Day 134 – Hanoi to Halong Bay
Incredible cruise in Halong Bay
Today we left Hanoi Old Town Palace Guest House, in the morning in a van to Halong Bay. The journey took over an hour, and like the tour to Ba Na Hills (Day 129), we had a stop over at a large souvenir shop for around 20 minutes.
We arrived at a busy dock. Here we got onto a small boat, and put on life jackets. We then had a minute ride to the cruise ship. Everyone was expecting a longer trip. Our cruise was the Apricot Premium Cruise. We had booked two interconnecting rooms. The cruise ship had 2 levels of rooms and a deck above. The staff were really friendly. We will be doing a 1 night cruise, with all meals and activities included. The only thing excluded is drinks, all drinks, even water. The price was 4,792,252 VND / $291.50 AUD for two people, which is quite expensive, but since we are with family, we have to accommodate.
Once the cruise boat set off, we didn’t get to see too much as the horizon was foggy. However, less than 30 minutes into the journey, we could see the large limestone islands, and they looked spectacular. As we explored the ship, we got more views, only dotted with a handful of other boats.
After a tasty lunch, we got back on the small boat and went to Hang Sung Sot (Surprising Cave). The story goes, that a French explorer discovered the cave, after finding monkeys living out in the middle of the limestone island. They found that the caves accumulate fresh water, that the monkeys drank (There are no more monkeys here now). The caves are called Surprising Cave, since that caves are surprisingly large. Trust me, its adequately named! There are 3 chambers, with the last one being the main event. I’m not sure how big it was, but it felt like an soccer field could easily fit inside it.
After the cave, we got back on the small boat and travelled to Ti Top Island. The Cave was busy, but due to the size, the tourists were distributed. Ti Top Island on the other hand, is really small, so was teaming with tourists. There is a small section that was cordoned off as a swimming area. A few brave tourists were in the freezing water. We decided to skip this and climb to the top of the island, to a viewpoint, which was a 20 minute uphill walk. From here we had almost 360 degree views of Halong Bay.
After this we headed back down the hill and took the small boat back to the main cruise ship. After having showers, we had dinner. Then some of the staff and tourists stayed up to enjoy some karaoke before heading off to sleep.