Hau Long & Lan Ha Bay

 4 April 2026

(Usual waiver applies to grammar, typos, spelling as I'm posting via  a small phone screen on the hoof 🤭, click on the pics to zoom in)

We set off from Hanoi in a coach to Tuan Chau Port. We had a 3hr drive with the obligatory WC & refreshment stop at a gallery/art shop/mini market... exit through the gift shop😁. There were so many coaches with tourists we each got a colored lanyard with the bus number/provider in case someone got left behind. Mild chaos😀

At the port there were more tourists and more boats than you could shake a stick at. Tourists trying to find the correct pier, porters loading luggage, announcements you had no idea of what they were saying, boats chuffing out diesel fumes 🫢🫢....glorious chaos. 

We did a three day, two night cruise on the Aqua of the Seas. We had a fantastic cabin with a balcony and a big bathtub.... perfect to have a soak and watch the scenery change. First things first though, we had a welcome from the Captain, Entertainment Manager and the Head Chef. 

Lovely big ship with plenty of viewing decks, bars, pool, gym etc. 

We had literally just opened our cabin curtains and you heard the chug, chug, chug of a local boat alongside. They were selling fruit,  beer, juice etc. They had a long pole with a net at the end to deliver your goods and you put the money in the net. That's hard core sales work. They were really signalling up to us to buy something. The pole didn't reach the top deck we were on so we wrapped some money around a mandarin, secured it with a hair tie and aimed....it got there on the deck and they were happy.  Hard yakka sales.

We had an afternoon row to a small cave amongst the limestone karst islands. 

It's certainly beautiful but we were sorry the sky was so full of smog....no blue sky and a watery sunset.

All the boats seems to anchor up in the same location  overnight so it's a very pretty sight.

There are goats on the islands. We saw them fleet of foot skipping across the rocks. I asked a local and apparently Cat Ba island goat meat is a delicacy.

The pollution is heartbreaking to see in this paradise. In the north of Vietnam there are over 3.6 million cars and 58 million motorbikes.Many are old and produce high emissions. Add to that the thousands of old diesel boat and tankers and  you can see why the smog levels are so high.

It's a tough call for the government to try and rectify. They need the emerging industries and the growing tourist numbers. In July this year they are going to phase in 'no motorbike hours' in Hanoi centre as a first step to addressing the terrible emissions.

We stopped at a working pearl farm. Fun fact the oysters can be in the baskets for three years before they get opened. They can open 300 oysters and only get on average three good quality pearls. Now ya know why pearls are pricey 🫣.

Some of the workers live out in the platforms for months on end. We saw a pussycat on one farm platform....oysters for dinner kitty cat 👍

The contrast between the local lives and some of the tourist boats was striking.

On day 2 we went to Cat Ba island. We had to go on a smaller boat which was pumping out black diesel fumes and gassing us in the process. Cat Ba is a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve and has  a small village and lots of natural jungle. We had the option to try rice wine snake tonic....3 years of the snake soaking infuses the wine with health benefits allegedly. We've got a lot of travelling ahead so took a pass on the rice wine options. You could also get your feet nibbled by fish here, we took a pass on that too as the water didn't look to be refreshed between sittings 😱.

The local village had some historic buildings which were really  interesting. 

The limestone karsts are certainly beautiful .

There are beaches for swimming and kayaking but the water pollution was terrible. We thought of our beautiful clean water in New Zealand and decided to sit that one out. So much rubbish floating in the water - bottles, plastic bags, old bits of polystyrene, diesel slick....tragic 😥

The chef worked his magic and the food was wonderful. He was a good singer too - he belted out a version of 'Oh Vietnam' on the karaoke.

A wonderful 3 days, 2 nights in this beautiful part of Vietnam.

These two loveable rogues were clearly up to no good as they went  walkabout on Cat Ba island.