| Page Views: 5,813 Last Visit to Ha Long: January, 2004 | From a Dragon's mouth by bpacker - last update: Dec 9, 2005 |
3D2N Halong Bay,Lan Hac Bay,Viet Hai, Cat Ba | From a Dragon's mouth, Ha Long Bay |
Recent Update : Frommers recently listed kayaking in Halong Bay as the one of the best adventures in Asia. So, if you're here, don't cheat yourself of this fantastic experience. Go kayaking ! Here's what they have to say: "The more than 3,000 arresting limestone karst formations rising out of Halong Bay's peaceful blue-green waters provide a natural obstacle course for paddling. Moving among them, you'll pass in and among intriguing grottos and caverns. Nights are spent camping out in natural parks or on the deck of a mother ship."Ha Long Bay has a romantic legend. Locals believe that this spectacular seascape of limestone pillars and some 1,600 islands and islets was born from a dragon's mouth. Maybe they were right. This place is phenomenal. I came here for 3D , on a trip arranged by ODC travels. The time was well spent.Day 1: Halong Bay, here I come! It was every bit as magical as I imagined it to be. Beautiful jade green waters, awesome limestone structures and magical caves awashed with strange formations. Strange how people can see Buddhas, legs, faces, animals and even male anatomies in those structures. Guess you'll start to hallucinate after you bring boatfuls of tourists here month after month. Overnight on a Chinese Junk.
Highlight of the day : Looking at a couple of Scandic sods jumped into the freezing waters at 5c and later laughing my head off with the rest of the travellers as they yowled in cold. The laughter reverberated around the Bay for a while. Poor sods, they must have forgotten that there wasn't any sauna on the boat. |
| Hai Quan Summit, Viet Hai |
|  | Viet Hai Village, CatBa National Park Day 2: Woke up at a ghastly 7am, bid everyone farewell and jumped unto another junk. We chugged slowly to Catba National Park. Trekked for 6km and later climbed a small summit near the village of Viet Hai. Took me 1/2 hr to get to the top. Saw an eagle and village of viet hai from the top. Heavenly. Prayed damm hard and got down to the bottom miraculously. Thank God. i didn't fall and make a photocopy of my face in the mud.Canoed around Lan Ha Bay after that . There are no Loch Ness Monsters here for sure. Max Depth was maybe 10m or so. Sigh, I was promised a monster! Maybe those guys saw a Dugong. Overnight at a sleazy island of Cat Ba.
Highlight of the Day: Had a good massage at Princes Hotel. It was heaven and it really soothed my tired muscles. Slept like a baby after that. |
| Floating Fish Farms, Lan Hac Bay |
| | Lan Ha Bay Day3: Didn't do much today, except to take more shots of Lan Ha Bay . Interesting place, saw clusters and clusters of floating villages. Saw more sea eagles too. We went back to Ha Long City and had lunch there. There doesn't seem to be much to do over there. Well, back to Hanoi. |
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| Pros: | "Awesome Limestone Structures and Jade Green Waters" | | Cons: | "Not a gd diving location, low depth, bad viz due to lots of plankton" | | In A Nutshell: | "More sights on the water than under" |
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 Comments for bpacker about Ha Long | | | | |
dejavu2gb Sun May 3, 2009 12:03 UTC
Excellent page on Halong... Thanks... Very usdful as I am planning a trip to Vietnam in Nov... Via my Favourite city Hong Kong... cannot wait!!! :) | magor65 Thu Oct 11, 2007 20:57 UTC
great page loaded with useful and inteesting info. I'm thinking of going to Vietnam in 2008, so I'm sure I'll come back to your pages again. | victorwkf Thu Feb 8, 2007 13:54 UTC
Hi glenda, I went to halong bay with ODC travels too and it was quite good. Did not go to cat ba island because mine was 2 days 1 night :) | i-s-a Wed Dec 6, 2006 10:29 UTC
i must get here! your page is so good glen...i wonder what took me this long to see this hmmmm |
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