The owner of the Harmony hotel we were staying at in Hanoi suggested that we book the trip with his friend who owns the Aurora Luxury Cruises. He booked our train tickets as well and was very honest about the prices, so without any second thoughts we agreed to a 2 days/1 night trip for 110$ per person. The original price was 140 and the offer sounded reasonable to us. The pictures shown looked great as well so we agreed.
Saying ahead, as you might already thought, it turned out to be a scam, our very first one in Vietnam.
The owner of the hotel did everything right by not overcharging us for the train tickets, so that when he mentioned the trip to Halong Bay we had no suspicions what so ever. As it turned out, the boat we booked had three classes of cabins and the ones that they assigned to us were the lowest class on the low deck. Polish guys that we met on the boat and that were assigned the same rooms eventually paid 65$ for their trip and were quite upset about it. They thought they were ripped off. When we told them what we paid they felt much better. As for us, we decided to try and change the rooms first but all the rooms were booked so eventually we had to settle for what we've got. We did, however agreed, that we will take it up with the hotel owner who sold us the tour and try to get some refund.
When we came back to the hotel we confronted the owner with the scam and after some tough negotiations, which included him telling us the full story of his misfortune, his poor family and his parents who taught him to take the downsides of life with patience, we managed to get back 20$ per person. The hard way, but we learned our lesson not to trust anyone and not to take the first offer even if the person offering seems very reliable.
In conclusion to the story told, if you are ever staying at Harmony hotel (not a bad hotel in general), and if you decide to book the Halong Bay tour, please note that the one offered on Luxe Aurora Cruises costs not more than 65-70$ and for this money it's really worth buying. But if there is some better service that you are after, it's very recommended to book with someone else, otherwise you will be frustrated and disappointed.
If you put the whole scam aside, the trip to the Bay turned out to be quite an interesting one. On the road to Halong we had a chance to see smaller cities and some country side.
On the way, about halfway, we stopped to stretch our feet a little bit and to look at the local crafts.
The girls are embroidering really beautiful pictures that even from a short distance look like real life paintings.
Other fine examples of handcrafted gifts available in Vietnam
After 3,5 hours on the bus, we finally arrived to Halong Bay, where the small boat was suppose to take us to our ship. At that point we were standing on the pier trying to guess which one of the most beautiful ones will be ours :-))
And then we arrived to our boat...
The first bells started to ring very loudly and someone said that who cares how it looks from the outside as long as the inside is what we were promised to get.. However, it didn't sound very convincing...
As was mentioned, we saw the rooms, we complained, didn't get anything improved and decided not to spoil the trip with unnecessary frustrations. Instead we went to the upper deck to enjoy the view.
The first activity of the day was to pedal with the boat through the bay where the floating village was hidden among the rock formations.
Our own pedaling wasn't as good as that of the locals. But we did our best and it was fun!
A really nice fulfilling experience that make us thought to get some fitness training once we will be back home :-))
After returning back to the ship, the cocktails and fruits were served on the upper deck.
It started to get dark an we anchored for the night along several other boats.
As the evening activity we were taught to make Vietnamese rolls and the crew prepared dinner which was very nice.
We were sitting on the upper deck till very late in the evening talking to our new friends Eva and Daniel, sharing stories. It turned out that they have an exact same route planned for the next couple of days and we decided to join forces.
In the mean time the Bay grew darker and darker, becoming an old legend where the dragon was lying in the middle of the ocean with his back visible above water in a shape of many islands.
To me it really felt as if I suddenly was in one of those books that tell you stories which happened hundreds of years ago.
We decided to call it a night and as it turned out the next morning it was the coldest night thus far. I almost froze and had to put on a jacket to stay warm. Another thing we complained about when asking for the refund.
The next day's activity was to visit the Hang Sung Sot caves which were about 1.5 hours away. Several fishing boats were swimming by but one was particularly funny with lots of flags hanging on both sides. Makes you wonder how many flags does one boat need :-))
The caves in reality are much more impressive than they come out on the photos taken, but here are a few just to give the idea.. The caves give you a surreal feeling of being on another planet and would probably make a great decor for any space/syfy movie.
But before boarding our night train to Hue, we of course, stopped by at the Harmony hotel to complain and try to get the refund. With returned 80$ in our pockets we went out to have the farewell dinner in Hanoi's old quarter, ...
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