Junkin’ On Halong Bay

After a few days in Hanoi, we zipped over to Halong Bay for our three day/two night tour on a traditional Vietnamese junk in this stunning archipelago. Jess was still with us and so we booked a triple suite on board our beautifully restored junk, the Paloma.

According to Lonely Planet, Halong translates as ‘where the dragon descends into the sea’, and legend claims the islands of Halong Bay were created by a great dragon from the mountains. As it charged towards the coast, its flailing tail gouged out valleys and crevasses. When it finally plunged into the sea, the area filled with water, leaving only the pinnacles visible.

Designated a World Heritage site in 1994, this mystical landscape of limestone islets is stupendously spectacular, especially as the eerie fogs roll in and you fell as if you have been transported into a dream.

The tour was ideally arranged, with enough activities (including spring roll making and dawn tai chi, as well as nighttime fishing) that you felt like you were getting the most out of your time, but also enough time to chill out.

We were fortunate enough to be able to visit one of the floating villages, Vong Vieng, as well as the Pearl Farm where we could see the oysters being opened and pearls inside revealed. The floating villages in particular were super interesting, and the bright colours of the houses and boats were offset by the vibrant aqua blue of the water. Kayaking around Lan Ha Bay was also great fun (although seeing bits of toilet paper in the water was bait of a spoiler – not QUITE as pristine as it may appear!

The food was also seriously amazing, every dinner was about 8 courses, and the lunches were top notch. You can see by a photo of one of our dinner’s below that we were certainly looked after. I would highly recommend the Paloma although since we went, it appears to have gone through more renovations.

Our first glimpses of Halong Bay and our junk, the Paloma.

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