May 15, 2008
Ha Long Bay
(Vịnh Hạ Long)
How to get there:
There are many companies that offer trips to Halong Bay from Hanoi and other cities in Vietnam. Just shop around and ask other tourists for their advice.
Cost:
65USD should get you an air conditions room for a 1 night trip with a roommate. More than that and you are just being ripped off.
Don’t feel like you must shell out extra cash to pay for an a/c room on the boat. At night it gets pretty cool and all you need is a fan which comes with standard accommodations.
Map:
Overpaying and Getting Less
Through the Hanoi Blue Sky Hotel, where I was staying, I booked a 2 day, 1 night trip to Ha Long Bay. Standard accommodations cost $45 and deluxe accommodations were $65. The price included transportation to and from Ha Long Bay to Hanoi, 4 meals, all the water/ tea needed for the stay, kayaking, and sightseeing of one cave. Beer and soda could be bought on the boat. Deluxe accommodations came with an a/c room and more meat dishes with the meals.
In Vietnam I noticed that many prices were given in U.S. dollars or Euros. Some places even encouraged payment in these currencies.
Most of the people on the boat had booked their trip through the Hanoi Blue Sky Hotel or one of the sister hotels. I had actually met two of the people, a father and daughter, on the trip back in my hotel lobby the day before.
There were two guys, however, who had paid for the boat stay through an agency. They had to find their own transportation to Ha Long Bay from Hanoi and back. To add insult to injury, they paid $95 each for standard accommodations.
I didn’t think that the delux deal was worth it. There were only 2 people who had paid for better accommodations, an Austrilian girl and me. There was a lot more meat with each meal, but we couldn’t eat it all and ended up sharing with everyone on the boat. At night, eventhough it was never hot, we cranked up the a/c to freezing and used extra blankets to justify paying $20 more than most of the other guests.
I don’t want undelicious cookies; I want batteries!
If you go out to Ha Long Bay there is no need to bring water, soda, beer, or horrible tasting cookies. There are more vendors rowing around selling these things than there are people willing to buy them.
No one want to buy them because these items are usually being sold from the tour boats at lower prices. Plus the tour boats keep their drinks refrigerated. And you don’t have to yell over the side of a boat and haggle over prices.
You should, however, bring extra batteries, sunscreen, chocolate bars, and tasty snacks, because none of the vendors there will be selling any of these obviously sellable items.
