The Destination You Need to Know About - Bai Tu Long Bay, Vietnam
“We obviously have to visit Halong Bay!”
I remember saying it with such ease. It was the thing you’re supposed to do in the place you’re supposed to do it - a highly valuable lesson I learned from Kristin Newman reading “What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding” for the first time. (I’ve since read it 3 more times) Obviously this place is on everyone’s bucket list so when we began looking at day cruises, I was starting to accept that it was going to be one of those tourist checkboxes that was worth visiting but overrun with…well, tourists. So in true Frances fashion, I decided to peek at maybe one or two other things nearby to fill out a second day of activities. (commitment issues?)
And that’s when I stumbled across Bai Tu Long Bay.
Only one boat was allowed to cruise there at the time and it looked more striking than Halong Bay. To this day, I still don’t know why more boats were allowed to cruise the area but I didn’t care - I had found a true hidden gem of a destination!
Since only 1 boat was allowed, it may the decision on who to go with spectacularly easy.
History note: The boats in this region are called “junks” and are far from anything that resembles actual junk. So why is it called a junk? According to good ‘ole Wikipedia (only considered a trusted source AFTER I graduated, rude) the origin of the word is a mix of the Portuguese word “Junco” and the Arabic word “J-N-K” (جنك) It was used to denote Javanese/Maylay ships and Chinese ships and since Arabic script cannot interpret/write the “ng” sound, the word eventually became Junk.
On a budget but excited to see this bay, we braced for the inevitable let down of THE PRICE. (cue ominous music) We expected this to be in line with normal cruises (still haven’t done one of those) so $1500+. You can imagine the frugal Gulick joy that occured when we realized it was roughly $300/each for 3 days/2 nights AND it was inclusive of all excursions, meals, and a massive room. While still pricey, it was so much less than some of the day trip pricing we were seeing over in Halong Bay. We booked with excitement and were ready to cruise!
The company, Indochina Junk, was fantastic to work with. We were picked up from a central location in Hanoi in a luxury van (read: A/C and wifi!) and made the 3-4hr drive out to Halong Bay. The drive was delightfully uneventful - for Asia driving, that’s awesome haha. We arrived to Halong Bay, got checked in and did a briefing and were shown over to the boat, the Dragon Legend.
Ya’ll - I had seen pictures online hundreds of times but nothing prepared me for the in-person drama of this boat.
It was flashy, it was massive, but it was gorgeous. We were shown to our cabin and were blown away once again. Hands down the largest cabin I’ve ever seen on a boat. We had a king sized bed, a seating area, a wall of windows, a huge walk-in closet area, and a full-blown soaking tub.
We departed from Halong Bay and drifted further away from all the tour boats and slowly drifted into the traffic of the locals. Longtail boats with mini motors, some just rowing, and the view of the limestone island “nuggets" is a memory I’ll never lose. That first day was spent walking around this massive boat and taking it all in. We were served both lunch and dinner on board and continued to be blown away - the food was phenomenal! It was local but elevated, fresh, and full of flavor. Before dinner that night, our appetizer was interactive - we were taught how to make fresh spring rolls and then given the ingredients to make our own. The portions were plentiful but not wasteful so we went to bed (the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in, no lie) full and so happy.
The next morning we began cruising over to a local fishing village for a visit. The Vung Vieng fishing village is a floating village and known for its traditional way of life. The families who live there are reliant on the waters around them for food and sell to local land-based villages for additional funds. The village had a small school, a small fish farm, and some curious kiddos running around. It was nice to see a self-sustaining village in the middle of this gorgeous landscape who were both focused on keeping their surrounding environment pristine and maintain their traditional way of life.
After a boat ride around the village, we boarded back up to head over to Thien Canh Son cave. The stalactites inside the cave were stunning - our guide had many stories on why this one looked like an elephant and this one looks like a lotus. Pictures were tough to capture in the low light but we managed to snap a few. The view leaving the cave was one of my favorites!
We proceeded to have lunch on the beach and talk more with the other passengers on board, people I’m still social media friends with to this day. The weather was pristine and we spent some time lounging on the sand afterwards soaking in everything around us.
Everyone boarded the main boat again where we spent the afternoon cruising around, stopping randomly to kayak. (no pics of that but it was super fun!)
As I was getting ready for dinner, I noticed a lot of people rushing out of their rooms to head up to the top deck. Obviously we followed (I feel like there’s a saying about this?) but so thankful we did for we were watching one of the most stunning sunsets I had ever seen. Ever.
Dinner our final night was a visual feast! The staff clearly spent the entire time we’d been cruising carving out these incredible sculptures for the sole purpose of enjoyment. Curtis had a beef noodle soup (he loves a noodle soup haha) and I had a Satay. We were serenaded by the staff and had some good laughs before falling asleep as soon as we got back to the room haha.
Our final morning was spent packing up and cruising back to port. Unfortunately we couldn’t take part in the post-cruise visit to Yen Duc village due to our flight time but were so fulfilled by the rest of the cruise that we were happy with the experience we had to that point. (the visit included a water puppet show and agricultural village visit) Indochina Junk sent us back to Hanoi from the bay in the same luxury van we arrived in and we spent the entire drive scrolling through the hundreds and hundreds of photos we took. :)
I cannot recommend this cruise enough! The company was well run, the value was completely worth it, and the food was delicious. There are multiple cruise options and boat choices, depending on the experience you’re looking for, so visit https://www.indochina-junk.com/ to learn more and find the right cruise for you. :)
Video Recap of our Trip