Monthly Archives: July 2012

Fresh Seafood

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After getting a chance to enjoy the view of the surroundings at the start of our cruise in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, we heard the bell for lunch. It’s definitely a welcomed sound, as it’s been a long day for most of us after spending the morning on a drive from Hanoi to Ha Long City, and then followed with boarding the junk boat. Kristi and I went to the dining room, and in a few minutes all of the other passengers made it there as well.

Smiley our tour guide welcomed us again, and informed us that the meals that we would have during the cruise are as important experience as the sightseeing and other activities we would do. He said the crew would like to ensure that we enjoy the food and drinks they serve, so any request or feedback we had were welcomed. The food was included as part of our cruise package, but the drinks were not. So they would keep tab of what we ordered, and at the end of the trip we would settle the bill with them.

For the first meal of our trip, Smiley said we would have several dishes featuring seafood freshly gathered from Ha Long Bay itself. The food was served family style at each table. The menu for this first meal was as follows: red bean and lotus seed soup as as starter, followed by green vegetable salad with carrot juice, Ha Long clam with fragrance smooth fruit, deep fried prawn with garlic and butter, Vong Vieng oyster cake with garlic sauce, steamed fish with soy sauce, fried vegetable with garlic, steamed rice, and closed with fresh tropical fruits. Quite a meal to make a first impression. Most of the dishes were very familiar to me and Kristi, as they were probably closer to traditional Chinese preparation than what we knew as Vietnamese food. But it makes sense since where we were in northern Vietnam was very close to the southern Chinese border, and historically there were a lot of Chinese influence in the Vietnamese culture.

The photo below was the deep-fried prawn with garlic and butter dish. It’s a pretty simple preparation; the highlight was the prawn that clearly was very fresh. I also like this preparation better than the deep-fried shrimp we find in the US; it’s more tasty, and didn’t feel greasy at all.

Deep-fried prawns

Calm Waters

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After we settled in our cabin, we had some free time before lunch time to start our cruise in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. Our junk boat slowly moved out the crowded port area towards the labyrinth of passageways among the thousands of rocks and isles in Ha Long Bay that made the place famous. We started following what looked like a main route to get to the open seas, so we saw many other boats, big and small. But eventually we would turn to a less crowded route, and not long after it seemed that we were alone in a quiet inlet.

Kristi and I went to the upper deck level of the boat to enjoy the scenery. It was colder than we expected, but I suppose it’s because we were in winter season as well. We just didn’t associate coastal Vietnam with cold before. Fortunately we had our gears ready since we just came from the mountainous region of Sapa. For a moment it was really nice to just stay quiet and enjoy the calm waters around with the surreal landscape around that looked like it came out of paintings or pictures that we’ve seen so many times. Then I thought about an article I read during the trip planning that talked about tourists had this iddylic picture in their head, only to be confronted with the reality that many others also had the same idea, and you end up having to enjoy the panorama with thousand other people on many other boats next to yours. Fortunately our tour company was true to their words as they mentioned that our particular cruise was supposed to be ‘off the beaten path’ and it would take us to areas that are less crowded and more secluded.

The photo below was taken from the top deck of our boat as we cruised out towards the rocks and isles of Ha Long Bay. You can see the layers of rocks and isles in front of us, and also a big ship going towards the open sea.

Cruising in Ha Long Bay

Ha Long City

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Ha Long City is a city in the northeast Vietnam about 160 km east of Hanoi. It was a port town where coal mined nearby was shipped from Ha Long City to southern China. Today Ha Long City has grown into a medium-sized city, and more recently due to the increasing popularity of the nearby Ha Long Bay as a tourist destination. The city is largely split into two parts, the Eastern part (Hon Gai) is where most of the government buildings and the industrial area is located, and the Western part (Bai Chay) is where the tourism industry is being grown.

While the growth of tourism definitely has affected the city, most foreign tourists who come there typically would go straight from their transit van from Hanoi onto the cruise boats, spent their time cruising in Ha Long Bay area, and then went straight to the transit van to go back to Hanoi. So they don’t necessarily come and stay in the city itself beyond the cruise. There is supposedly more local and southern Chinese tourists coming to the area, though it’s still pretty far from being considered as a ‘resort town.’

When we came to Ha Long City, it was pretty much like mentioned above, directly to the port in the Bai Chay area to board our junk boat, and when we came back, it was straight back to Hanoi. We did see parts of Ha Long City on the way out; clearly a growing city, but I’m not sure if there is compelling reason to visit as a destination when you have many other places in the country to see within limited amount of time.

The photo below was taken from our junk boat on the way out to the more secluded part of Ha Long Bay. It’s a quick glimpse of the more industrial part of Ha Long City. I wonder what the locals think of the booming tourism industry around them. Since Ha Long City is pretty much the main supplier for the cruise industry in Ha Long Bay, I’m sure they’re happy with the positive impact it has on the local economy. But they probably wish people would consider their hometown to be more than just a jump off point to get on the cruise.

Ha Long City

Luxurious Cabin

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When I travel, I usually look for accomodation that is in good location and is reasonably priced. Cleanliness is obviously important for a room to stay in, but I don’t usually care much for extra amenities or decor that some high-end hotels may offer. For our cruise in Ha Long Bay, the cabin was pretty much what came with the package we booked through the tour company. We did see some photos on their website to get some idea of what it looked like, but sometime photos can’t really give you accurate picture of what you’re going to get.

After getting our keys from Smiley, Kristi and I headed to the lower level of the junk boat to head to our cabin with our luggage. Our cabin was among the smallest they had on the boat — we had one of the cabins with two twin beds. We were not expecting much after our experience with travel cabin on the train to Sapa (especially if it was built for ‘Vietnamese size’). But what we found was actually a very nice cabin. It was not large like a hotel room, but it was quite roomy, pretty cozy, and the best of all, it had a wonderful view to the Ha Long Bay scenery outside — not obstructed by anything at all. The bathroom was quite small; basically a standing shower and a small lavatory, but well designed and looked quite nice to match with the interior of the junk boat. They even had marble tiles on the floor of the bathroom. Quite odd considering we’re on a boat, but it did make it feel more upscale.

The photo below was taken from the corner of our cabin with my wide-angle lens. Notice the wonderful view from the cabin that we enjoyed in the two mornings that we stayed there.

Luxurious cabin

Welcome Aboard

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After boarding the tender at the Ha Long City port, we slowly moved away from the pier and weaved our way among the many boats moored near the port. There were many junk boats around; we couldn’t tell which one was ours. After few minutes riding and guessing, we finally saw one junk boat in a distance that we seemed to be heading towards, and as we got closer, we saw several of the boats crew in uniform standing on the boat expecting the guests to arrive.

We boarded our junk boat, called the Dragon’s Pearl 3, which was in really excellent shape. It looked like an old, classic junk boat, but I think it’s actually quite a modern vessel, just made to look like the traditional junk boats that everyone would expect to see in Ha Long Bay.

Smiley our tour guide had us gather at a big room in the middle level of the boat — the dining room and where we would gather as a group for the meals and any group activities. He called each group of passengers to give us the cabin assignment and our cabin keys. Then we headed down to the hallway of the lower level to collect our luggages and head to our cabin to get situated.

The photo below was taken from the tender as we approached the junk boat. You can see two of the Dragon’s Pearl 3 crew members welcoming us to their vessel with smile. There were six of them including Smiley the tour guide who came with us to take care of all of our needs during the three-day cruise.

Welcome to Dragon's Pearl 3