After a few days of settling in Hanoi and visiting many popular attractions and construction sites, we spent our last full day in northern Vietnam relaxing on a cruise at Ha Long Bay. We took our bus for the two hour journey to Ha Long Bay on the most efficient highway in Vietnam. Before this highway was built, the commute to Ha Long Bay was approximately six hours. This new highway cuts down the commute greatly, but the tolls are more expensive. After driving for about an hour and 15 minutes, we stopped at Hải Phòng to use restrooms and buy snacks. Hải Phòng has the second biggest sea port and the second biggest river in Vietnam. The biggest sea port in Vietnam is located in Saigon. After our stop, we drove for another hour and arrived at Ha Long Bay. We were guided to our cruise which was reserved just for our group. There are cruises just for the day, which is what we participated in, but there are also overnight cruises which there are three routes for.
Once the cruise started, we were immediately served lunch which included a variety of dishes. These dishes included fish, shrimp, vegetables, spring rolls, and french fries. We all ate our lunch while approaching the islands in the bay.
After being stuffed from our delicious meal, we enjoyed the cruise by taking many photos and viewing all the beautiful islands. Ha Long Bay is known for its natural scenery and it is made up of 1,969 islands, which is the year of Ho Chi Minh’s death. The scenery of this bay is so incredible that in 2012, it was named one of the new natural wonders of the world. All of these islands are spread out across approximately 1,500 square kilometers. These islands were formed 400 million years ago under the ocean, but they rose above water 2 millions years ago. The limestone mixed with the sea water is what caused the erosion to form the Ha Long Bay.
About two and a half hours into the cruise, we stopped to view one of the newest caves in the bay. The cave was named Động Thiên Cung. “Thiên” stands for heaven and “Cung” stands for palace. Once we arrived at the cave, we walked up a few stories to the entrance. When we entered the cave, we were able to walk through a path which took approximately 5 years to build once the cave was found. In this cave, we were able to see the opening that a fisherman found to discover it.
After our detour to the cave, we cruised back to where we started our journey. We were able to view Ha Long city and some of their attractions from a distance. One notable attraction we saw was a cable car that is able to hold over 200 people! Once we arrived at the dock, we all headed to the bus to head back to the hotel. On our drive back, we stopped at a rest stop again and once we arrived at the hotel, we ended the night by going to get pho, bánh mì, or walking through the night market.
Blog written by Kina Tamai