Halong Bay

A post with nothing much to say in words, so pictures will just have to do! We did end up going with Halong Emotion Cruise. While everyone says being on a junk boat is the true experience, I beg to differ. In my opinion, at the end of the day, it's how comfortable you would like to be during your stay :). Hence our choice.

Was pretty drowsy after taking my anti emetics for the car travel, so I slept all the way from Hanoi till a handicraft centre, and then again from there till the bay. Hence, the nameless centre :P.

It was a pretty impressive centre I have to say. Firstly, it was huge. Secondly, the work were really good! If only I have a place of my own.. I would have bought some!! *sigh*

They're pretty good!

Oh, they also do international deliveries for big or multi purchases. It's not hard to imagine why. There were heaps of huge paintings and cravings! If anyone's looking for simple and cheap decos for their house or shops, it's a great place to be in!

Some of the paintings

My favourite piece *The white base are actually white painted eggshells!*

Continued on our road trip (while I was happily dozing away :P), we finally arrived at Halong Bay Tourist Wharf. Heaps of tourist I have to say! The whole place was just congested! Thank god we had pick up service. Otherwise, it would hve been a challenge trying to find our 'boat people'.

@ Halong Bay Tourist Wharf

Had a little bit of an unpleasant incident here. While we were crossing the gates to get to our boat, we were stopped by the lady-in-charge there. Immediately placing her arms out and cut in between the other passenger and myself. I don't know if it's because we looked young, or asian or if they thought we were Vietnamese. Or simply that we didn't look 'caucasian' enough to board the boat. And I was 'tested' on what my name was, and what boat I was boarding to. Hello??? Your guy picked me up from Hanoi.... Anyway, not impressed at all. Thankfully, that was the end of the bad experience. I think he was ready to crack it if it was to happen again.

Anyway, soon enough we were on our way to our stay for the night :).

Halong Emotion Cruise Boat :D

We had a pretty good welcoming experience and a short briefing session. Soon enough, we were showed our room before lunch. And boy, do I love the big windows in the rooms :D.

Our room

Lunch wasn't a disappointment too! :D Most of the dishes were fresh seafood, which was a delight. I absolutely love them. Managed to take pictures of some of them :).

Pipis!! My favourites! :D

Deep Fried Prawns

This must be some sort of traditional Vietnamese soup
*we had it at almost every meal, every day*

Stirfried vegetables

The boat started cruising at about the same time lunch started, and with the large windows at the dining area, we didn't miss much of the sights.

Top of the deck

And photos of the famous limestones of Halong Bay :

*Tom : This is just for you!*

Mobile supermarket right outside our room

Loving how the junk boat sails look against the limestome backdrop :)

Our first stop of the day was Sung Sot Cave, which is also known as the Cave of Surprise, a famous limestone cave in Halong. A must go place in Halong Bay, the place was absolutely packed with tourist.

I wasn't particularly fascinated with the cave, I have to admit. What I liked about the place is the scenery of Halong Bay that it provides. Not the cave itself.

View from lookout point no 1

Inside Surprise Cave

There is a 'national icon' in the cave. A piece of stone that resembled a tortoise. It really did. It was tradition to rub the tortoise's head for good luck. Unfortunately, our tour guide wasn't particularly informative so we had to eavesdrop on other tour groups' guide talk whenever the opportunity arised :P.

View from look out point 2
*gorgeous isnt it?*

On our way back

:D

We had about 30 minutes rest on the boat before making our journey to Titop Beach. Most of the Sydneysiders went on for a swim at the beach, but there was no way the two of us were doing that. Firstly, the weather wasn't the warmest and secondly, the water was freezing!!!

Titop Beach

The beach actually had a check point for tickets!
*I never had to pay to visit a beach :S*

View from the beach

We didn't spend that much a time there. It was a quick swim for most of them, 20 minutes perhaps?, and we headed back to the boat for another quick rest before dinner. And again, I was impressed with dinner :D

Our table

We sat with the same people mostly throughout the trip. Not that we minded. I think our table was the youngest among the others which was absolutely fine with me. I'm not sure if it's just this boat, but most of the passengers on our boat were elderly. Perhaps if we stayed at a midrange junk we would have seen younger people? Anyway.....

Dinner!!

There was some real effort in making the dishes pretty and presentable, which was really nice. And the food was really quite good too, which is an additional bonus.

Yummssss

There was other activities for the night, such as the squid fishing activity, but we weren't too interested in it, so we didn't join in. Spent the night reading a book while cruising along was pretty good :). Oh, we did go up to the top deck during the night, and the bay looked really pretty too with lights from other boats.

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Waking up to this :)

View during breakfast

The boat does organize a Tai Chi session at about 630 a.m. for those who would like to join, and also to enjoy the sunrise during that time. We were obviously too lazy to attend, so we slept for that extra 30 minutes.

Fishing Village

We started our day with a visit to one of the fishing villages in Halong Bay via bamboo boats. A truly enjoyable experience.

All the boat 'operators' were ladies as most of the men in the village has gone fishing at the outer bays. They all had a license badge attached and were really friendly. It was also good to observe that they were environmental friendly as they scooped rubbish out of the waters whenever they could.

And we were all given traditional rattan? hats to put on. The girls had a pointed hat, whereas boys had the round ones :D.

Us with the hats :)

Our friendly boat operator

There is a total of 7 fishing villages in Halong Bay, with a total of 1300 inhabitants. The village that we visited was among one of the bigger ones, with 107 floating houses housing about 300 villagers.

Village houses

The village shrine

The village's school
*Difficult to play truant, don't you think?*
Hehehe

Isn't she just the cutest?!? :)

And soon, we were on our way home.

:)

Back at the tourist wharf

Our cruise included a lunch at Halong City, which I didn't really mind. The whole cruise, while it provided a great opportunity to take in the sceneries of the famous bay, was a little slow for the two of us. But I suppose that's because we're used to doing things at a faster pace. Still, it's a beautiful place to visit. Definitely worth a visit, though I probably wouldn't return for another in 30 years, and definitely not a great place for kids, as they might get bored.

Lunch in the city

Lunch menu

After that, the trip officially ended and we were sent back to Hanoi with the company's van. Along the way, we did stop at another arts and crafts place, but it wasn't anything like the previous one. But a good break from being in the car I suppose.

We booked our trip directly with the company's official website, which was good as the prices weren't that much more, and they included the transfer from Hanoi to Halong, which wasn't provided by some of the other operators or agents.

Hanoi, Vietnam (Part 1)

We had initially wanted to incorporate Hanoi into our trip to Cambodia last year but decided against it when it appaered to be too taxing to being doing it all in the 1 week. Plus, it would have meant no Halong Bay in that trip. So this time, given the choice to decide, he has chosen Hanoi as the destination for a 5 day trip, and I managed to weasel my way into an overnight stay in Halong Bay too! :)

We stayed in the Old Quarters after speaking to a friend who's been there recently. It took the boy a while to decide which ones to choose from as he was sssoo tempted by Sofitel Metropole. While the place is gorgeous, the price is definitely not something we were prepared to pay. Plus, it wasn't like I was going to be staying in the room all day anyway. But for those who are willing to splurge, it definitely is a very pretty hotel.

Anyway, we stayed in Maison De Hanoi Hanova Hotel which was, I felt, also a pretty decent hotel. It was comfortable, and it was convenient being only 2 minutes walk to Hoan Kiem Lake, which is the centre of town. The staffs were also extremely helpful.

Hotel lobby

Our room

The rooms are pretty compact I have to say. There wasn't much space to around the perimeters of the bed. Just narrow walkways. The only other way I can describe it was - it felt very much like a hotel room in Japan. Small, compact but well equiped. Although, I have to add that we only booked the classic double room, so maybe the pricier rooms would have more space. But anyway, there was even a turndown service in the evening :).

*We booked our hotel through wotif and saved an average of USD 30 for every night's stay*

First stop - Museum of Ethnology

I read excellent reviews online regarding the museum and was really looking forward to it. Plus, by the time we were done checking in at the hotel it was already 330pm and there wasn't much else to see at that time for a decent visit. The museum opens Tues-Sun from 830-1730. Admission fee VND 25000 ppax. An english guide is available for price, but there wasn't any available while we were there. Not that it mattered really - most of the descriptions were also in English.

First house we visited was the Cham House.

This was one of the 5 buildings in the Cham House. Inside each building, there was common decorative items such as the dragon and clouds or rain. There was also lots of turtle images for fertility, and lots of Yin-Yang amulets.

Outside one of the buildings of Cham House

Anyone may sit down and enjoy the tea here. There's one at every house. Money is placed at the little basket next to the teapot.

Cham House's kitchen

On exiting the Cham House, directly opposite it was the Bhanar Communal House on view. Just right before it is the water puppet stage. The water puppet show is a famous tradition in Vietnam, now almost a lost art. While there is the famous Thang Long Water Puppet Show in town, the museum also holds free shows on weekends. And the show is run by different groups ever month. Too bad we weren't there on a weekend. But I would think it's definitely worth a watch if you're there on a weekend.

Water Puppet Stage (Bhanar Communal House behind it)

Next stop : Kinh House

The first impression that I had of the place was, wow - this looks like a richer house compared to the Cham House. The floors were concrete based, instead of the brown earth at Cham House. The courtyard is decorated, the house just somehow.. looked better. Neater, more ornamental decorative materials, bigger, and more rooms.

Decoration at the courtyard aka Rockgarden

There was a total of 12 rooms in the house. The main room was built in 1906 by Mrs Hoi, who was from a well-to-do Kinh family of the Le Duy linage and contains 5 bays. The middle room housed the ancestral altar, and the family members rests in the lateral bays.

And then we were off to Bhanar Communal House, my longawaited visit for the place. It was the first thing I could see from the entrance to the museum, along with the pictures online of the place that I've seen - I couldn't wait to see the place!

Bhanar Communal House

Not much pictures on the inside as it was really dark and poorly lit. But the house was really high up, and the steps weren't the easiest to get down from. It was surprisingly well aerated and had a cooling effect from the hot hot day.

Anyway, about the Bhanar House - it as modeled after the 20th century house that is in Kon Pbang Village of Kontum Province. The communal house is the most important building in the Bhanar community serving as the meeting place for the men of the vilage, and also a place for celebrations, rituals, and even meeting and planning for wars.

Ede House

This, I felt was the Vietnam version of our long house. Didn't enter the building but just took pictures from the outside. From here on, the weather was starting to get to me. It was wayyyyyy too hot for 'winter'!

\The Ede House is from De Daklak Province of the Buon Ma Thout City.

Giaraj Tomb

The next interesting building was the Giaraj Tomb. Built in 1998 by 5 villagers from Mrong Ngo Village of the Chu Pa district in Gia Lai, the building is made of wood carvings., occasionally from large tree trunks. Carvings of sexually-explicit men and women and pregnant women surrounds the tomb as it represents fertility. At the 4 corners of the building, there was either everyday people or animal carvings to serve the dead. As of what I can understand from the information plates, once the ceremony is concluded, the tomb would be abandoned by the villagers and to fall into pieces with time. A pity really... after all that work.

One of the 'everyday people' to serve the dead

From there on, we wandered through to the rest of the outdoor displays with shorter attention span, just walking in and out of each house before making our way in to the indoor museum.

Random structure

Just in between the indoor and outdoor museum was an area of play. Like a little playground, but it was not your ordinary playground. The 'toys' were from the local traditions, and it wasn't played by children. They were young adults and frankly, it looked quite fun. Mainly testing balancing and coordination skills. It just looked like heaps of fun!

Game no 1

Game no 2

The indoor bit was similiar to the outdoor bit to a certain degree. There was miniature houses, but with displays of the daily utensils, and ceremonies of each ethnic group. A little more interesting I suppose, as it does seem like a little story telling session :).

Bicycle carrying fishtraps

This was certainly a ! There was so many fishtraps that you could hardly see the bicycle. And I initially thought that maybe it was just a fishtrap display. Little did I know that it was Mr Pham's business!

*Mr Pham Dang Uy of Thu Sy Commune, Tien Lu district in Hung Yen, used this bicycle from 1982 to 1997 to sell fishtraps throughout the Red River delta. He would often carry, as here, more than 800 traps of different sorts, for catching small river fish*

800! 800 fishtraps on your bicycle! Who would have thought it was possible!

Miniature houses

There was more to see, and more to read and say about the place, but it is one that you need to go personally to see if you liked it. I found it just slight above average, but then again I was never a big fan of these things so I suppose it was probably good for someone who likes this sort of things.

*No photos as camera was on the verge of going absolutely flat before dinner if I continued snapping pictures*

Seeing that there was still light, we decided to head to Hoan Kiem Lake to visit the Ngoc Son Temple.

The famous Huc Bridge

Unfortunately for us, the temple was already closed for the day when we got there. But since we already knew that before we got there, so there was no rush and we just took our time walking by the lake. There was surprisingly lots of locals that hangs out and jogs around the lake. Not hard to comprehend why, it was a pretty sight right in the middle of town. Coupled with the cool breeze, it was wonderful!

Main doorway to Ngoc Son Temple

Little worship area to the left

Huc Bridge

*We did pay the temple a visit again a few days later, when it was opened so I'll talk more about it then*. The good thing about being there when it's closed was that we were able to take photos without the crowds.

Closed for the day

There wasn't much else to do for the night, and we were already quite tired from the early rise so we decided to head for dinner at about 7 p.m. We decided to have dinner at Dinh Lang, a restaurant located just at the edge of the lake, taking the shape of a boat. Dinh Lang is located on the upper floor. The lower floor was also another restaurant, which serves a combination of asian and western food. Dinh Lang on the other hand, serves traditional Vietnamese cuisine, which was exactly what we were looking for! *And no, I wasn't game on trying the local scene just yet. Not on my first day, and no, not after Cambodia*

The view from our table

We were pleasantly surprised when we were showed our table. We did not make any reservations (and yes, there was a few reserved tables there) and yet our table was probably the best in the whole restaurant. We were seated right at the centre, next to a large window that was left opened to look into the lake and the beautiful city lights. And to top it of, we were right in front of the perfomance stage. It was splendid!

We decided to opt for the set dinner as we weren't sure what was good and what wasn't. And what was local and what wasn't. So I think we settled for set dinner B, a 7 course meal which serves 2 plus rice and coffee.

Appetizer 1 - Eel soup

I was feeling a little grossed out intially when I was thinking about eel soup.. but then again, it suddenly came to me that I love having unagi. And that unagi was eel. LOL... But frankly, it just tasted like fish in soup :P.

Appetizer 2 - Papaya Pork Salad

The original set had banana salad but we swapped it for this for an extra VND 15000 I think as yours truly just can't stand bananas. This was just average - we felt that the pork was a little too hard.

Appetizer 3 - Roasted pigeon

My first of many in Vietnam. This was pretty yummy :)

Snakehead fish soup

This was quite funny. I had to repeatedly ask the waiter if this soup was an actual snake head soup, or was it just some sort of fish variety which is known as snakehead. Thankfully it was the latter. They should really either change the name of the soup, or have someone explain earlier. It would have put me off that set, if I didn't ask them. *Not a fan of snakes, although I haven't had it before*. And and, what if it was an actual snake head that stares at you from the bowl of soup!!!*shudders*

Anyway, it was all good :). No snakes, and no snake heads staring at you.

Stirfried chicken with cashew nut

This I felt was the best dish of them all. It was just tasty enough. Great to go along with our rice.

The restaurant also has a 5-person band, which plays traditional Vietnamese instruments and songs which was quite enjoyable. Initially, they looked so bored and stoned that it was almost painful to watch them. But as they warmed up, there was more smiles and it got a little more entertaining. Or maybe it was the old man behind me who seem to be the only one that was able to hum to the tunes of the songs. So that too, was pretty entertaining.

Sensing that we were not locals, the main performer came up to me and asked where I was from and the next thing was, she was singing a local Malaysian song. I can't tell you what it was as I don't know the name itself, but it was definitely a rather well-known Malaysian song. So, that was a nice touch!

We left at about almost 9 as we had wanted to get a massage from our hotel for our poor bodies, but unfortunately, they were busy till closing time :(. But oh well, an early night for early risers the next day. We were headed for the much anticipated Halong Bay the next day!