In the itinerary (part 8)

On the way to Titov Island, visitors see a stone rock resembling a thumb jutting out of the water. Nature has put the Ngon Tay (Finger) Islet here as a reminder of many other interesting oddities in the discovery of the bay.

Con Coc or Toad Islet is one of the most exquisite works nature on Halong Bay. Just imagine, an 8-meter-high toad sitting to await rain amidst the vast sea. The Toad Islet lies in the southeast of Halong Bay, 17 km away from the tourist boat wharf.

Halong Bay: Dragons, Junks and Pearls

Any place this hauntingly beautiful warrants a good legend. Here’s how legend explains Halong Bay: A dragon descended from the sky and spat pearls into the water to protect Vietnam from foreign ships. The pearls transformed into islands; the ships turned away. Dragon wins.

“Pearl” is right, when it comes to these island rarities. Sixteen hundred of them dot Halong Bay, Vietnam, and most are uninhabited and untouched. They’re made of limestone, shaped by the sea into lovely pillars — some standing 160 to 330 feet tall with vertical cliff walls and caves systems within. Some of the pillars even look like things they’re not. Two pillars are named “Cock Fight Islands” — because they look like two chickens faced off against one another. And the Dog Rock looks like, well, a dog.

In one area of the bay, folks have built a village on the water; their homes float on rafts, and they make a living fishing the waters. Children row (instead of walk) to school, according to UNESCO.

Floating house on Halong Bay - Martin Puddy/Getty Images

This place is wonderful and you should go there.

It’s a four-hour drive from Hanoi, and you can tour the bay on a junk ship (which is way prettier than its name implies), according to Frommer’s. Or, kayak the smooth waters, and then rock climb one of these pearls …

by Amanda Arnold

Source: Howstuffworks

Announcement

25 May, 2011


You still can have a 2day 3 night trip with us on Halong Bay. 
Enjoy your stay aboard Huong Hai Junks!


Note: we have applied new rates for all new bookings which check in from 25 May 2011 to 30 September 2011: Discount  $5/room for all international guests exploring Halong Bay in 2 or 3 days.

 

Halong Bay tops new world wonder poll

Halong, Vietnam’s world natural heritage, gained the highest growth in votes in the poll for the seven new world natural wonders on www.new7wonders.com last month.

The bay currently takes the lead in the poll, followed by South Korea’s Jeju Island.

On www.new7wonders.com, Halong Bay always took the lead in the last several days.

In May, Vietnam promoted its advertisement and canvas for the bay with many activities held in Vietnam and abroad.

Vietnam and South Korea have joined hands to vote for Halong Bay and Jeju Island. On website http://www.jeju-halong.com, the Vietnamese page, there are over 3,600 votes for the two landscapes.

The poll for the new seven world natural wonders is now in the last stage with 28 candidates. The winners will be announced on November 11, 2011.

Summer Deals 2011!

Discount $5/ room for all international guests to explore Halong Bay on Huong Hai Junks. 

Applied from 25 May to 30 September, 2011

To get more information, please email to: info@halongdiscovery.com 

or enter website: http://www.halongdiscovery.com/

Rates policy for 2 day 1 night sail: click here

To book now: click here

Warmly Welcome You to Halong Bay! 

Vietnamese Shrimp and Crab Crispy Spring Rolls Recipe

Bob and Jenny Cockill from Perth, Australia trying their hand at spring rolls. Photo by Sue Frause.

Pork and shrimp cha gio can be made by using 1 pound ground pork and 1/2 pound shrimp. 1 – 1.5 ounces of thin cellophane noodles, chopped into 1/2″ pieces and soaked in water until soft, is a common ingredient and can also be added to the mixture.

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, small dice
6 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 head small cabbage, thinly sliced
4-5 Shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, diced
1 pound shrimp, shelled and deveined
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 pound crab meat
1 egg, white and yolk separated
1 package large (8 inch) spring roll wrappers

Announcement

Since May 2011, Managing Board of Halong Bay has NOT allowed any junk to operate 3D2N tour. On the second day, our captains MUST turn back to the port. After adopting procedures, we can continue our cruise. Yet the itinerary will be repeated. We hope you mind this when taking your trip into account to enjoy the best time on the Bay.

We apologize to guests recently cruising aboard Huong Hai Junk for not informing you previously. This information has been noted under the itinerary of 3D2N trip on our website.

All news from Managing Board of Halong Bay will be updated as soon as possible. 

Updated review

Huong Hai Junk cruise with overnight stay was absolutely wonderful

Photo taken from Titov Island

Date of review: May 10, 2011 

My husband and I went on a Halong Bay tour with an overnight stay on board a Huong Hai junk. The boat was small with only 6 cabins with ensuites which gave it a lovely personal touch. Our Vietnamese guide named Man went out of his way to ensure our trip was enjoyable. The food was delightful, all fresh seafood and the boat had a lovely dining room with windows all around to enjoy the view. The open top deck had lounges for each guest and we lay there mesmerised and watched the sun set as our little boat sailed ever so quietly past the mountains, so very beautiful and tranquil. We were taken on a cave tour and fish farm tour in the bay. It was incredible value for low cost.

Source: TripAdvisor.com 

Vote for Halong Bay and Jeju Island

According to the Korean Cultural Center in Hanoi, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam and Korean Cultural Center, Department of Tourism and Culture of South Korea in Hanoi has officially launched a website to promote online voting for Halong Bay and Jeju Island and become one of the seven natural wonders of the New World.

Website voting for Jeju Island and Halong Bay (http://www.jeju-halong.com)  has jointly been built by the Korean Cultural Center and Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism of Vietnam. This site provides detailed information on Jeju Island (Korea) and Halong Bay (Vietnam) in three languages​​: Korean, Vietnamese and English to help the two countries easily vote for these two sites.

 

Korean Cultural Center in Hanoi expects more than 10 million people of the two countries to vote on this website.

The 7 winners of the world’s new wonders will be announce on November 11, 2011.

Source: baodatviet.vn

In the Itinerary (Part 7)

BA TRAI DAO Islet

 To arrive at Ba Trai Dao Islet, one of the most well-known attractions of Halong Bay is the complex of three interesting mountains located 22 km away to the south of Bai Chay Tourist Wharf. From afar, the three of them magically resemble the image of three giant peaches - a fact that accounts for the name "Ba Trai Dao" which literally means three peaches in Vietnamese.

The height of up to 23 meters gives the islet a majestic beauty.

A Look into Beautiful Halong Bay in North Vietnam

By Claudia Tello - @ hubpages.com

Halong Bay -Halong meaning “Descending Dragon”- is named after the thousands of island with bizarre rock formations and limestone cliffs that are within the Gulf of Tonkin, in the north shores of Vietnam. It is composed of more than 3000 islands of all shapes and forms, covered in green vegetation and protruding from the ocean’s surface. If you are a nature lover, this place will enchant you with its many awe striking sites, and majestic natural composition.

Halong Bay has plenty of grottos created by the wind and the emerald water of the gulf; it is a beautiful example of the effect wind and water erosion have on the landscape.

Among the sculptured islands and rock formations, Halong Bay also hides many deserted tinny white sand beaches that you can visit by boat, stop and enjoy for a while. In these locations you’ll be surrounded by nothing but nature.

A wonderful aspect of Halong Bay is that it has so many islands and rock pillars that every turn comes up with a surprise: another astounding sculpture, a perfect archway through the mountains, a peaceful lagoon where you can Kayak and enjoy the scenery…

Reviews of Huong Hai Junks

“Huong Hai Junk - Excellent!” by Sisabell, Victoria, BC, Canada.

Scenery from Titov Island 

This will be a long review as there are a lot of positive things to say about this company. We booked this company after doing quite a bit of research on the Internet. There are a lot of junk boats and we had trouble choosing which company to use. After finally deciding we booked through an agency (Tonkin Travel, who also booked all of our hotels for a better price than I could get. I would also highly recommend using them.) 


The shuttle picked us up from our hotel as arranged and drove us on the four hour trip to Halong City. When we arrived the port was very chaotic but we didn’t have to worry about it as the representatives from the company were very organized and quickly got us on a tender and out to our junk boat. When we arrived on the boat we were greeted with a chilled towel and a welcome drink before we were shown to our cabin. We were very impressed with the boat. The cabin was all wood, had a nice sized window, and was very clean. We had our own bathroom in our cabin with a western toilet, sink and a shower. The bed was comfortable and had nice linens. There were seven passenger cabins on our boat and three staff cabins. The dining room was on the floor above the cabins and was very beautiful. There was an area outside the dining room where guests could sit and chat. (I noticed some other Huong Hai Boats also had sundecks above the dining room, ours didn’t. Next time I will request a boat with a sundeck.) From what I could tell some of their boats were not as nice, but I believe that there were two prices and we had paid for the more expensive room. We met people staying on the less expensive boat and they had no complaints at all. For us what really stood out on our two night trip was the incredible food. There was so much food we couldn’t eat it all! It actually got to the point where we felt bad because we couldn’t eat anymore and they had clearly put so much effort into the cooking and presentation.

We went on the three day/two night trip and strongly recommend that you do the same. We went kayaking on the second day, which was the highlight of our entire trip to Vietnam. With the kayak you can reach places that the junk boats are too big to go. 

The final thing I wanted to say was that the crew were wonderful. They made sure we were safe, happy, and definitely never went hungry! They do not expect a tip at the end of the trip, but certainly deserve one. 

One glitch, was on the shuttle ride back to Hanoi, the driver had not received the correct information about which hotel to drop us off at, and his English was not good enough for him to understand when we tried to explain this to him. Therefore we were dropped at a place that wasn’t our hotel and had to make our own way to our hotel. Make sure the driver has your correct hotel written on the list before you get in the van with them (the representatives at the pier should be able to sort this out for you). Despite this small glitch, I highly recommend this company. When we return to Halong Bay we will definitely use them again.


By a guest from Northampton


We have just completed a 3 day 2 night cruise with Huong Hai Junks which was excellent fun.

We found it expensive but that said we did go for New Years Eve which is an added cost.

The drinks onboard have to be paid for and are costly compared to the prices in Hanoi and the exchange rate used also higher if you are paying in anything other than dollars.

The cabins are a fair size but not as big as the web site says but they are comfortable and have showers and power.

The food is superb but only if you like seafood, if not you must remember to say this upfront to avoid disappointment. The staff are very attentive and meet all schedule times for meals and activities.

We had a great time and this is a trip that must be taken if you are in Vietnam.


***
We appreciate your compliments on our service. Your happiness is also ours. We assure that we shall do better and better to make you more satisfied. Your sincere assessment contributes to the improvement of our service quality. Huong Hai Junks is still doing best with a view to showing you an impressive image of Halong Bay with friendly people and ideal destination in your travel plan. We hope you will come back one day and discover other beautiful sites in our hidden charming country. Vietnam always warmly welcomes you. 


We'd be thankful if you could send us your review after the trip to e-mail: info@halongdiscovery.com.


Thank you very much for joining us!


Source: tripadvisor.com

Seminar aimed at increasing votes for Halong Bay

Ga Choi Islet

A seminar was held in the northern province of Quang Ninh on May 1 to find out ways to win more votes for Halong Bay to be recognized as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World

The seminar witnessed the huge participation of number of foreign diplomatic staff including ambassadors and counselors in Vietnam, Vietnamese and foreign tourists.

An official from the Foreign Ministry suggested the spread of information and promotion of the image of Halong Bay at major sport and music events, or on social networks, like facebook, twisters and youtube, and mobile phone systems can help to encourage people, specially students and public employees, to vote for Halong Bay.

The Deputy Director of Quang Ninh Television Station, Mai Vu Tuan, proposed increasing broadcasts of Halong Bay’s values on domestic radio and television programmes as well as on foreign radios and televisions, such as the Republic of Korea’s Kangwon television and China’s Guangxi television and radio, which have established cooperative ties with Vietnam.

Halong Bay needs to collect 60 million votes to become one of the new 7 wonders of the world.

The New Open World will announce the final list of the new 7 wonders of the world on November 11.

To vote for Ha Long Bay, please visit the website www.new7wonders.com/nature/en/vote.

Source: VOV News

Discount in May

Discount $5/pax for new booking check in on: 04, 05, 08, 09, 12, 14 May, 2011 on Huong Hai Junks.

To get more information, please email to: info@halongdiscovery.com
or enter website: http://www.halongdiscovery.com/

Reservation now: reservation@halongdiscovery.com 

Phone: (+84 33) 3845042