07.01.-09.01.2018 Halong & Bai Tu Long Bay Tour… replaced by Ninh Binh
We really enjoyed our time in Hanoi, but after the rather traumatic experience of getting stuck in the festival crowds the evening before, we were more than ready to leave the city and chaos behind us for a couple of days of tranquility in the nature. We got picked up at 8 am at our hotel by Ethnic Travels. With us in the minibus was a family of grumpy Frenchies and after a sometimes interesting, sometimes boring 4 h ride to the harbour in Halong Bay, we were joined by an Austrian-Canadian guy. Soon we were off on a speedboat, through the first limestone mountains of the Halong Bay, to our bigger boat for the day (and night). Weather was so-so, or should I say rather grey and almost rainy. The speedboat ride came a bit unexpected and was a good (though cold) start to the tour. Actually in the end, the weather did not matter too much. Halong Bay is amazing in any weather! The clouds even added something mystical to the place, something that made it maybe a bit more special than if you sail here on a clear and sunny day (not that we would have minded some sun in between, but well).
After some nice lunch we were joined by another group who was doing our tour in reverse (Bai Tu Long first, and now joining us for the Halong Bay part). A German couple and a German-American-Kiwi family with two young kids. We also met our guide Son, who was fun, helpful and overall just really good. Minus the Frenchies, we were sooo lucky with our group! Everyone was very open and chatty, the kids were super cute and we all just got along very well. This definitely contributed to having a great tour (ooops…spoiler here right away!). The first day was spent going around by boat in the more quiet areas of the Halong Bay. Despite the rather grey weather, we could not stop taking pictures. I must have taken hundreds – the views were just incredible!!
Everywhere you looked – new views, more spectacular ones or just different ones than before. Later on, we went for some kayaking which was fun too. I think it was the first time for me in a kayak, but luckily my sister had some experience already and took over the main paddling job. It was so peaceful floating around between the huge limestone rocks with no other tourist boat or kayaks in sight. After kayaking, I got talked into going for a swim – or better: I said to my dad: If you jump in, I will too. So of course I had to! Plus, isn’t it kind of a once in a lifetime thing you need to do – swimming in the Halong Bay!? The day ended early with a delicious dinner (food was always awesome during this tour!!) – it was a peaceful night far from any other tourist boats, anchored somewhere in the Halong Bay, within the maze of limestone rocks…
Next day started early with a quick breakfast and then we were off to a cave. Not on foot, nothing happens on foot here! A young lady was rowing the four of us, quite a distance actually and she didn’t even look that strong. Guess we were wrong, that young girl kicked a** with her rowing skills! The most beautiful part of the cave was the reflection when coming out on the other side – simply amazing…
It was time to say goodbye to Halong Bay then – we still had quite a boat drive to go back to the anchoring position from the day before. Once again, we were on the deck, admiring the landscape and taking hundreds of pictures. And then we were off again, on the speedboat, to the harbour where our transfer to Bai Tu Long Bay would wait for us… Or so we thought.
Once we arrived in the harbour, we heard the news: The winds are too strong today, so no boats are allowed to go out into Bai Tu Long Bay. Spontaneously our guide offered to replace that part of our tour with a day in Ninh Binh. Since the family and the German couple were going there straight from Halong Bay anyways, it was easy to join them. It was not an easy decision for us to take, since of course we had our itinerary in mind and we thought it didn’t quite fit like that. But… in the end we were very happy about our decision! Weather in the North turned bad, so we re-planned a bit and the little tour of Ninh Binh fitted perfectly into those plans.
Also, the Ninh Binh part of the tour ended up being just as amazing as the Halong Bay part – or even better!? Cannot decide… We had an especially good time due to the group constellation, with everyone enjoying chatting with each other and everyone being in a general positive mood the whole time. So instead of transferring to Bai Tu Long Bay, we hopped onto the minibus with the rest of the group for a 5 h drive to Ninh Binh. The drive was interrupted by a rather unexpected fun toilet stop. Instead of just using the bathrooms, we ended up tasting lots of different snacks in the rest-house. Some small and powdery sweet stuff called „green bean cake“ (although not much of a cake) tasted delicious! We arrived in Ninh Binh in the dark, at our homestay which is affiliated with Ethnic Travels. The day was not over yet though – there was a springroll workshop waiting for us! It was fun, but actually a lot of work, cutting all the veggies into small pieces, mixing everything and then creating the rolls. I believe we definitely deserved our dinner and „happy water“ after the hard work! Very happy we then fell into our beds, since it was going to be another early morning next day…
We woke up to rather cold weather the next morning – only around 13 degrees max were expected that day. Since we were going to be outside the whole day, we put on all the clothes we were carrying with us! A noodle soup for breakfast warmed us up a bit more before we drove to the start of our trek (more of a leisurely walk). It had rained the day before, so the trail was quite muddy, but luckily it stayed dry during our day tour. We walked between the (empty) rice fields and past many limestone mountains which look very picturesque around Ninh Binh. This area is also referred to as „dry Halong Bay“ which I can definitely understand now. Simply stunning!
Our walk ended at the „jetty“ in Trang An, from where we were taken in rowing boats down the river. Even though it was cold, it was one of the most enjoyable parts of the tour – everything was peaceful, quiet and beautiful around us. We went through two caves where we had to duck down quite a bit, since the water level was high, in order not to hit our head on the stalactites.
Next was some lunch, delicious as always with Ethnic Travels. We were able to warm up a little with some tea and hot food, before heading off again – this time, on mountain bikes! The ride was fun and we got to see a lot of different scenery again. We also stopped at a pagoda built into a limestone hill which was quite pretty. Overall, it was a nice way to see the surroundings of Ninh Binh.
There was one final stop we did afterwards, at another pagoda. At the moment, they are building or re-building some stairs all the way up the limestone mountain, but they are not done yet. So we had to be happy with just seeing the pagoda and some smaller views in between. Still nice, but will be special once it’s done and you can go all the way up!
This was the last part of the tour for us and from here, we were put into a minibus back to Hanoi – a rather quick 2 h drive. Back in the city after lots of time in peaceful nature – definitely a change again! But we were also looking forward to the charming chaos of Hanoi… The tour with Ethnic Travels was super nice, especially due to our guide Son and the group we randomly got put into. Highly recommended!
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