Vietnam 2013 Part 2 – Ha Long Bay

Ha Long bay, the Natural Wonder of the World. Indeed it is! One can simply book the tour in Hanoi. There’s many tour agencies in Hanoi itself that organizes trips to Ha Long Bay. Trips range from a day to 3 days, with a choice to overnight in a junk.

I booked this tour before coming to Vietnam. I found this company: Awesome Vietnam Travel on Tripadvisor and booked my 1-day trip to Ha Long Bay there. It cost USD 28 for 1 person.

Normally, companies and locals will advice you to take the 2 or 3 day option due to time constrains when doing the 1-day trip. A 2 or 3 day trip will mean you get to overnight on the junk boat and see more of Ha Long Bay itself. Note that it will take a 4 hours by coach to the jetty for the boat transfer. So a 1-day trip will mean that you will spend 8 hours on the coach and only 4 hours at Ha Long Bay itself. For me, I had a tight schedule and I already booked a flight to Nha Trang next, so I had no choice but go with the 1-day trip.

So my day started with the pick up service picking me at 0800 and after picking up after tourist, we headed straight to Ha Long. Around 1.5 hours into the journey, we stopped by at this huge shop for a toilet break. The shop sells hand made paintings which can cost up to VND 1 million! And souvenirs and snacks can be bought here as well.

We continued the journey and it’s really a bumpy ride to Ha Long. Road conditions aren’t really that good. And I find it ironic that the Vietnamese obey the speed limit but disobeyed the traffic lights.. Oh well.

So, upon reaching Ha Long, we waited for our boat for about 30 minutes. And by the time we get there, it’s already 1230.

You will be given a ticket here that states VND 80 000. Don’t worry, that’s just the cost of taking the boat. The price you pay basically includes the hotel transfer, lunch, boat, park entrance fees and guide fees. And DO NOT lose this ticket. You will need it for some attractions.

The moment we boarded the boat, lunch is served. Lunch is basically seafood lunch, with prawns, chicken, clams, squid, fish, vegetables and rice. Do note that most Ha Long Bay trips include lunch in the itinerary but NOT drinks. Drinks can be purchased separately at VND 20 000. And for those who get sea sick easily, don’t worry! The boat is fairly stable and won’t be speeding through.  Here are some shots along the way:

Just nice after lunch, we arrived at this jetty. Our first stop is Thien Cung cave. This cave is really beautiful with many rocks with all sorts of shapes. You can use your imagination here to see the rocks that resembled something. Your tour guide will tell you legends about the cave and the meaning of certain rocks. Note: The cave may be a little wet, so do watch your steps!

After visiting the cave, we headed back on the boat. The boat now travels along and you can see many beautiful shaped limestone islets. Here are some shots:

About 20 minutes into the journey, we arrived at this small floating fishing village. There are actually people living in these villages. Their livelihood is mainly by fishing.

The boat will make a 30 minute stop at this fishing village. You have 3 options here.

1: Take a short ride on a small boat (for 4 pax) along the area paddled by the Vietnamese.

2: Have a short kayaking experience around the area.

3: Just chill on the fishing village.

I took the 1st option as I do not want to get wet. It cost me VND 130 000 for the boat ride. The ride is really relaxing and you will get to enter this mini “cave” to see the beautiful lagoon.

I recommend at least trying the boat ride or the kayak. For the adventurous and for those who want to get wet, get the kayak. Price wise, should be about VND 150 000. Do note that the “cave” is only accessible when it’s low tide.

After the ride, we boarded back the boat and headed back to the jetty on the mainland. As you can see, the day trip is really short, so I’d recommend going for the 2-day trip. Along the way, I managed to capture a few shots on different islets.

So, that’s Ha Long Bay. Overall, I enjoyed it  a lot! And for the price I pay, it’s really worth it!! I’d recommend Awesome Vietnam Travel. Just look it up at Tripadvisor!! Mr Anh is really professional and delivers what he promises.

If you have more time to spare, try going for the 2-day or 3-day trip. Do note that you get for what you pay for. Try organizing your trip from Hanoi and not Halong Bay itself to avoid scams. Do enquire about what you get for the package. Some companies may charge slightly more as the kayaking is already included. There is also a luxury option junk cruise for those honeymooners and those travelling on a high budget. What ever it is, Ha long bay must not be missed when one is in Vietnam!

Stay tuned for my next post as I fly to the beach city of Nha Trang!

Vietnam Part 3

Paris, France 2013 Part 4 – River Seine cruise & Louvre

So, right after the city tour of Paris, we went for the cruise on River Seine. We took a cruise under the boat company Bateaux-Mouches. The jetty is in close proximity to the Pont de L’Alma Bridge and tunnel, where the late Princess Diana had the horrific accident.

So, tickets can be bought there itself. It costs EUR 12.50 for an adult ticket. You can also do this cruise with lunch or dinner, but it’s gonna cost more.

Boarding the cruise

The cruise

The cruise boat is really long. There are plenty of seat on the bottom and the upper deck. For better photo opportunities, I recommend sitting on the upper deck! It’s much more relaxing, cooling and you can get a good dose of the sun!! There are plenty of seats though, don’t worry about not getting one 🙂

So, the cruise has specific times so do check out the departure times!

And off we go!! Some highlights of the cruise!

Pont des Invalides

Pont Alexandre III

French architecture

POV. the cruise boat is really long!

couples relaxing along river seine

Notre Dame de Paris

Notre Dame de Paris

Park

Eiffel tower

Eiffel Tower

The route this cruise boat takes will show you the highlight buildings and monuments in Paris. It’s really a great way to see the sights if your tired walking around. Besides, the cruise is so relaxing that I almost fell asleep!! Don’t worry for those with motion sickness. The cruise travels really smoothly, you won’t feel  it’s even moving! The whole cruise will take about 45 minutes to 1 hour before making a U-turn and returning back to the jetty.

The cruise also has an audio guide in many languages ranging from English, French, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, German, Italian to Spanish. And not to worry, it’s not those annoying tour guides with a microphone talking to you. The cruise has it’s own public address system which also serves as an audio guide.

Overall, really worth it!!

So, next up is the Louvre Museum! It’s one of the world’s largest museums and has a really large array of displays. For us, our tour guide has arranged a Louvre Museum tour guide for us, showing all the important and famous highlights of the museum. Due the vast size of the museum, it is said that if one would take 30 seconds to look at a display, he/she will take at least 3 months to complete the whole museum!! That’s insanely huge!!

Well, our museum tour guide handed us audio sets which would allow him to talk on a microphone and us listening it on our audio set without causing any disturbances to others and also allowing us to slightly wander off a bit, but still able to listen to him.

Entrance tickets to the Louvre Museum is at EUR 16 for all exhibitions. If memory serves me correctly, there’s a personal nintendo-3DS audio guide that can be rented at EUR 5. Do take note that the museum closes on Tuesdays!

Louvre pyramid, the main entrance of the Louvre

Do you know that previously, the Louvre was actually a palace? Well, that explains it’s huge size.

Now since we were on a tour to see the highlights of the museum, I only managed to take a few photos, which are of course highlights.. Check them out!!

Paintings on the French Revolution

painting of a young Napoleon Bonaparte

The highlight of all: Mona Lisa. It’s said that her eyes will look at you no matter where you are standing

Winged Victory of Samothrace

Beautiful

Venus de Milo

Sphinx

Brilliant Mosaic art! this is actually thousands of pieces!

Well, I didn’t really pay attention to taking photos cos I was too engrossed in what the tour guide is explaining. Haha.

Overall, this museum has it all! Egyptian antiques, paintings, Islamic arts, Roman and Greek sculptures, drawings, decorative arts and more!!  Really good for those who appreciate arts! And I’d recommend renting the Nintendo-3DS audio guide, well at least you can understand what a sculpture is, what a painting depicts. A picture tells a thousand words. Trust me, having a guide really makes you understand and appreciate them better!! And I was never an arts person, but the guide really made my tour interesting!

And the museum has food restaurants, a Macdonalds outlet and shops too! There’s also a money changer there. If I’m wrong, all these are located in the basement 2 level. Just spot this inverted pyramid shown below and your near those shops and restaurants!

The inverted pyramid, close to all the shops and restaurants

A compulsory tourist photo

So, thanks for reading my post on Paris. Truly an amazing city! I would love to come back here again! There’s just so much to do in Paris!! And I truly love french architecture. Stuffs here are inexpensive compared to Switzerland. And I kind of missed a lot here. I’m disappointed that I didn’t have the chance to experience Paris at night. Seeing photos on the internet really just makes me wanna return there again! Paris is so beautiful at night! The lights that lit up the buildings, the Eiffel tower, is just so surreal!!

Overall, I think Paris is manageable compared to Switzerland, expenses wise. In terms of food, one can eat cheaply as low as EUR 6-8. Tap water is also safe to consume, so that may cut down your cost. Bottled drinks can be purchased anywhere. Do note that hotels at the city centre itself is expensive. Prices may start at EUR 200 per night and can go up to EUR 500!! Do check for hotel deals on websites like agoda, booking.com and hotels.com.
Also, the streets of Paris is quite complicated to understand. They have many districts called arrondissements. Always have a handy map with you. Paris is also known for pickpockets. Do keep your valuables away from reach. If possible, don’t carry huge amount of cash with you. If necessary, wear a money belt. Prepare a dummy wallet with a few small notes just in case if your robbed or forced to submit your valuables! Do look out and check your belongings at the slightest bump you encountered with a stranger. It’s better being extra cautious than losing your valuables while having a vacation!!

That’s all for Paris for now. I would be heading to Brussels, Belgium next!! So, stay tuned!!

Brussels, Belgium 2013