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