Halong Bay - a little disappointed

Ok, so we had booked a 2 day, 1 night trip to Halong Bay.  This is a place that many point out as a highlight of their travels.  It is because of this that I think I have become spoilt whilst travelling (mainly by the scenery of New Zealand).  I think people should go online and Google it, and I'm sure everyone will say how great it looks.

Limestone carsts of Halong Bay

Agreed, the scenery is pretty stunning.  However, the trip that we did was pretty rubbish.  We left Hanoi on a minibus of 14 people to Halong City, which took 4 hours.  We also had our standard stop-off in an overpriced shop/restaueant area.  On reaching the city we had to climb over loads of boats to get to ours (with backpacks on).  Once on the boat we ended up waiting an hour before we even left the port.  The 1st dat was spent sailing on a pretty nice boat through the islands.  Our trouble was that the weather was crap - drizzle, mist, grey - sound familiar back home guys?  Because of this we couldn't see much.  All we did of note was look round a massive cave that is now so commercial there are paths and lights all round it.  Perhaps a good thing with my track record though!  Our 'English-speaking tour guide' was a joker who I couldn't understand.  Oh yeah, the food was pretty good but not enough.  In the evening we just got pissed; 'we' being Ross, Daan & Gijs (who had finally made it to 'Nam), Steve & Anthony (Melbournians) and me.

Ships ahoy!

The second day involved a half hour kayak to see nothing, then I decided to create more fun by jumping off the top decki of the boat a few times.  A gew of the boys followed suit.  I'm not sure the Vietnamese 'tour workers' were too impressed.  Someone call the fun police!  After that short spell of fun it was back to the monotony of the scenery, all the way back to the port.  We then drove back to Hanoi.  That was the trip in a nutshell!!!!!

I'm sure with good weather and a good tour Halong Bay is awesome, and I can imagine it could even be a highlight.  However we had neither of these, so we all felt a bit disappointed.  Maybe another time, when I'm flush with cash, I'll do it properly or by myself.  I hate being negative so I WILL give it a 2nd chance one day.

Views from Surprise Cave