How long in Halong

Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and the starting place for most activities in the north. Northern Vietnam might as well be a different country. The lifestyle is more fast paced and in your face. It seems that you're more likely to be ripped off or scammed up here. But I just stayed for one day before booking my trip to Halong Bay. Halong Bay is known for its picturesque limestone karsts that jut out from the sea. They say that you can't do it for much cheaper than the tour prices so I booked a 3 day trip out to the bay where we would stay on Cat Ba Island one night and the next night on a junk boat.

So after herding up 20 or 30 people the next morning we jumped on the minibus for our 3 hour journey to the bay. When we finally arrived things started going downhill. First off, the weather in northern Vietnam was bleak the entire time I was there. I think in the week and a half I was there I saw the sun for a total of 3 hours. Other than that its always overcast, dreary, or raining. Despite the weather I still wanted to see Halong Bay but when we arrived at the pier we waited for what seemed like hours. Apparently the way it works is that there are hundreds of travel agencies in Hanoi that book the same tour so after they take their cut they send you to an operator who tries to fill up boats according to the number of people in your party and length of stay you're on. Well two hours later we finally had a full boat and were on our way. With the weather being so bad we weren't able to see further than maybe 25 meters but we still weren't deterred. That day we made it to a fascinating limestone cave but it was lit up with lights and stairs and such which made it too touristy for me. We were then given the chance to board a small boat that took us through a couple caves that lead to what were essentially craters filled with water in the middle of these limestone karsts. That night we were dropped off on Cat Ba and it was loads of fun because they were having a festival to commemorate when Ho Chi Minh came to the island. It reminded me of the state fair but it was fun to see all the locals get so excited over such a cheezy festival.

The next day we hiked up to the top of Cat Ba where the mist allowed us to see absolutely nothing but you can imagine how cool it could of been. Thats a picture of me on the summit. We then waited around near the hotel before we were taken back to the pier where we waited again and finally boarded our boat for the night. We spent the night on the boat and it was very nice but since we were short on time the second day we had to wake up very early the next day to get our kayaking in before heading back to Hanoi. Honestly, the trip wasn't very good and I feel Halong Bay is overrated. It could be very nice but the way they shuffle people around like cattle is annoying and the way they keep the bay environmentally isn't very good at all. All throughout the bay you can see where they dump garbage overboard and the oil from the engines sit on top of the calm water. Some people were given the opportunity to swim in the bay but I wouldn't just because it seemed way too polluted. Despite all that it was pretty fun because the people on the boat were lots of fun. We had a great night on Cat Ba and the night on the boat was fun playing cards and hanging out. My recommendation would be to go to Khao Sok NP in Thailand where its very similar to Halong except a million times cleaner and way less touristy.