Our Limo service arrived at around 7.30am in the morning at our hotel. We boarded the limo and started the 4 hours journey towards Halong Bay.
In between the 4 hours journey we were brought to a handicraft factory for toilet break. Handicrafts had never been our favorites as such, we just stroll around and checking out the price and comparing with same piece of artwork we can get in Hanoi city. Indeed it is slightly expensive to buy in the handicraft factory rather than in the city.
At 12pm sharp, finally we reached the pier. We were lead to a waiting area while waiting for our guide to arrive. We waited patiently and it didn't take too long, till our guide approached us. He lead us together with our travel companions towards the pier to be transported onto a small boat, which will bring us to our cruise/junk - Red Dragon.
Our cruise fellowship consisted of 7 peoples, a nice couple from Germany, 3 very outgoing and young adults from the States, and 2 of us from Malaysia. To me, it is very well arranged, as when the travel group is small it is more enjoying. It is about a 5min ride on the small boat towards the Red Dragon Junk.
Upon reaching our junk we were welcomed with a orange drink, wet towels and the staff on board.
Then we were lead to our room.
It was a nice room and a large cozy bed too. This is how our room look like.
After some rest then it is lunch time while our junk cruise through the amazing Bai Tu Long Bay.
This is the area where we have our lunch.
One of the special dish from our lunch menu.
After our lunch we just hung around on the deck to admire the stunning 360 view of limestones which is the objective of this cruise. Make a guess how many limestones there are in Halong Bay? Read further to know the answer.
At around 3pm, we reached Hon Co Island.
This island is known for it's white sandy beach and beach activities such as swimming, kayaking and beach soccer and etc. Kayaking is included in our itinerary but before that, we got the chance to go into one limestone of Hon Co Island itself.
It was around 90 steps of uneven steps to the top of the limestone, where you could get a bird eye view of Halong.
After that, from there we entered the limestone to see the stalactites and stalagmites formed throughout the years of god works! I remembered I saw a Tower of Pisa formed by stalagmites inside too!
After that, it was kayaking time. We didn't participate for this activity but chose to stay on the beach enjoying the breeze and did some photo shooting.
The panoramic view of the beach.
We returned to our junk at about 5pm when the sky got darker. Got some deserved rest waiting for dinner time. Already missed out to capture what I ate during lunch, this time, i brought my camera long. xD
We started with fried spring rolls a traditional appetizer for Vietnamese. Fried to perfection and filled with vegetables and mushrooms. Take a look at the hawk behind. It was hand crafted by the chef!
Next a watermelon crafted "bomb shell" brought us the sweet and sour prawn. I have to say the seafood in Halong Bay is fresh. There are no doubt many fishermen doing their trade around and thus fresh seafood is always guaranteed.
Another type of prawn is up next on our dinner menu.
Then a handcrafted red dragon junk shipped us a grilled chicken to complete our dinner of the day.
It was dark outside and we could not see anything after the dinner. We went back to our room and fortunately we brought our Mac with us to accompany us throughout the night.
I have to say it was a new experience for us, to board a cruise while sailing pass hundreds of thousand of limestones. Yes, there are total 1969 limestones in Halong Bay and 1969 is the year of Ho Chi Minh's death. Sound interesting right? We looked forward for more surprises in Halong Bay on the next day!
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