Hi there!!! Last week, my friend and I had a very quick trip to Ha Long Bay – our first destination on the journey in Vietnam. It’s not a perfect one but still unforgettable with us, so I’m gonna share to you guys our journey. Hope this would be helpful if you’re planning to travel to Vietnam as well as Ha Long Bay.
How to get there?
Well, there are numerous flights from Australia to Vietnam. To save time, we chose Vietnam Airlines for a direct one from Sydney to Hanoi. After landing Noi Bai Airport, it’s about 10pm, so we voted for Family Hotel Soc Son – very near the airport to stay that night. We got up early the next morning to catch a car transfer to Ha Long. Due to the hotel’s staff, we didn’t have any difficulty.
Ahhh, one thing that you should note down: Australian citizens need a visa to visit Vietnam. I almost forgot about it until a week before the trip. Actually, there are various methods to register for Vietnam visa, but, you know, it’s quite late at that time, I needed to have a visa as soon as possible. Therefore,I did request https://www.vietnamvisa.org.vn/ for a visa on arrival. Only 2 days later, we got the consequence.
Where to stay?
Because this was the very first time we’ve been there, I thought we should stay at a cruise to both discover and enjoy the bay’s majestic beauty. After reading many reviews, I made my decision to choose a 2-day-1-night tour in Paradise cruise.
And yeh, this is such a right choice, because we were cruising around and saw the spectacular scenery of this bay which are natural formations like Perfume Rock, Lonely Rock, etc. We also joined the cooking class, and now I know how to make spring roll, a Vietnamese traditional dish 🙂 Every meal has been served on the board, I hadn’t had any experience like this before, so it fascinated me a lot. I booked this tour through Paradise’s website, their consultant was so nice and gave me a lot of helpful information.
We have spent the last 2 nights at an Airbnb named Orestay Halong. The room was clean, and had a balcony viewing a small garden and the city. One more great experience there :D.
What to do?
Ha Long has not only the bay but also many interesting activities and abundant cuisine. We spent a day in Sun World Ha Long Park participating in adventurous games, taking panoramic view of Halong from above in Queen Slings. As I know, it has Yen Tu temple and Ba Vang temple as well. If you are interested in Buddhism, you should add these places to your travel list.
As well as other destinations in Vietnam, Ha Long brings fascinating dishes, especially “chả mực”. You should ask the staff in your hotel to find out the best place to eat.
Thanks Ha Long and Vietnamese people for that amazing trip! I’ll be back. And thanks to those who are reading these last words. I hope you have a memorable trip in Vietnam and don’t make the same mistakes as me about Vietnam visa. You may save your money and avoid stress if you prepare the visa right when planning the trip.
