According to legend, the Vietnamese people had just started to develop their country and to help fight off invaders, the gods sent a family of dragons to protect them. The dragons were spitting out jewels and jades and they turned into island and islets scattered around the bay serving as walls against the invaders. On another end, numerous rock mountains appeared on the sea ahead of the invaders' ships and they got struck by the rocks. After the battle, the dragons decided to peacefuly stay in this bay and the mother dragon descended here, thus the name, Ha(descending) Long(dragon).
As per research, in 1898, a sub-lieutenant named Lagredin and his many crews reported spotting a huge sea snake on Ha Long Bay. Enough of history and legends. Off to the real Ha Long Bay!
The best way to enjoy Ha Long Bay is actually cruising. This way, you get to see the many limestone cliffs surrounding the whole stretch of Ha Long territory. Our tour bus dropped us in front of Tuan Chau International Marina Station where we were given hot towels and enjoyed a few sips of hot tea while they prepare our luggages for boarding. While waiting for our tender boat, the captain of our boat greeted us and staffs assigned us our rooms. The entire ship was filled with family members as we were a big group. We were only joined by a family of 4 and the rest of the ship was us.
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| Dining Hall - Photo taken the next day |
Lunch buffet onboard Bhaya 2
We got to enjoy a variety of seafood, veggies, vermicelli noodles (yum!) and spring rolls while our boat started to cruise to its first destination - a floating village. Getting to enjoy the beauty of God's creation while eating lunch and bonding with our family was really something else. Took a video of the experience but the actual feeling while we were there was indescribable.
While the lunch buffet was included in the tour, the drinks weren't. There's free coffee and tea though in the buffet area and a bottle per person of complimentary bottled water inside your room. Here's some of the food onboard Bhaya 2:
As we were having a sit-down Christmas dinner that night, our orders were taken in advance. We had a choice of Ha Long Bay seabass or steak. Took the seabass because it was one of my favorites.
We didn't have high expectations in terms of bedroom ambiance and space since we know that ships like these have limited space. The room interior actually looked like a mini-version of El Nido Miniloc Island's seaview Room. Bedrooms are located either in the 2nd level or 1st level of the boat. Bathroom was pretty small but water pressure was good enough and all the basic bathroom necessities was provided.
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| A typical house in the floating village |
Floating Village
We were instructed to head to the reception area that afternoon as we will be heading out to the floating village. Tender boats arrived to bring us to the boarding area for smaller boats. We were then told to form groups of four as a boat could only accommodate 4 people. I've been to El Nido Palawan and there might be similarities in terms of the view but this was different. As our boat was being rowed towards the village, we get to see how they live their daily lives and merchandise were even sold through floating boats (like in Thailand).
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| Schools done so he's going home now |
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| Another kid on the way home |
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| Drag racer version |
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| A villager washing clothes |
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| Floating store |
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| Floating classroom |
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| After the floating village, you'll pass by a cavern and go underneath it. |
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| The cavern, up close! |
As we headed back to Bhaya cruise, the captain mentioned that we could do kayaking for 30 minutes before the boat moves to another location. If not, we could just stay onboard and learn how to make Vietnamese spring rolls and enjoy just lounge around the sundeck (Well, there was no sun when we went there). Since it was already getting dark, most of just decided to learn how to make spring rolls. Upon reaching the boat, we were given hot ginseng tea (Salabat) and hot towels. Also, that afternoon, the captain also announced that happy hour was on! All drinks were offered to us as buy one take one.
Also known as "Goi Cuon", it is also a dish Vietnamese are known for other than Pho. It was believed that this dish was served to royalties back then. Since I wasn't able to attend the demo onboard, here's a site that has tutorial on such if you're not going to Bhaya anytime soon. (Link: http://whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/how-roll-fresh-spring-rolls/ )
During dinner, the boat was already docked together with the rest of the other boats (with different operators, I think) in a specific area in Ha Long Bay. From what we understand, there were security patrol in that area safe guarding all the boats during the night. It's where they are required to dock at night if they're not sailing. Dinner was served and I was expecting that I would not be full but I'm glad I was wrong.
We were given bread and butter to start with.
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| It was followed by shrimps |
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| and a hot bowl of creamy pumpkin soup |
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| Ha Long Bay Seabass |
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| Beef Tenderloin |
Even before the dessert came, music and dancing filled the entire dining hall. I'm not allowed to tell what happened that night but it was a pretty memorable one! I can say that it was one of the most memorable Christmas day dinners --- EVER! #Goodtimes
After dinner was another set of happy hour but this time, it was only 30% off. I then decided to have a 30- minute in-room massage before ending my day to prepare myself for another day of activities. It costs around 1,100 pesos if I remember it correctly and I was half asleep the whole time. Relaxing indeed.
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| Bhaya Cruise: Night time at sea |
Vietnam Shopping Guide
Bhaya Cruise Day 1 - Activities, Food and the Cruise
Bhaya Cruise Day 2 - Surprise Cave
Cheftonio
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