Halong Bay: Vietnam's Pride

North Vietnam's main attraction is Halong Bay. It is a 4 hour bus trip from Hanoi. The scenery of countless limestone karsts on the Bay is impressive and the place deserves to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Part of Halong Bay tour is a visit to the Thien Cong Grotto. This is a cave which is colorfully lighted to highlight its numerous attractions.

My trip to Halong Bay was still enjoyable in spite of the problems we had on the tour. I paid extra for an overnight stay in a junk boat on the Bay but we were told that there was a typhoon coming and boats are not allowed to stay during the night in the Bay. So instead we spent the night in Cat Ba Island in a cheap hotel, the value of which was cheaper than the tour that I paid for.

But next day, I found out from a friend that they spent the night on their boat in the Bay! That was a major disappointment for me. But I guess that was just a confirmation of the way organized tours are run in Vietnam. There are warnings in Lonely Planet about Halong Bay tour scams and I experienced this first hand. So tourists beware!