Halong Bay: Piece of Paradise or Tourist Trap?

It is 5:45am on Cat Ba Island and the town is alive. From my second story balcony I see a harbor full or boats, people walking the streets, scooting around on motorbikes, and serving up breakfast on plastic tables by the road. Here the people rise with the sun.

Cat Ba is a lively little town full of tourists hailing from all over. Pretty much anyone who travels to Vietnam visits Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island. There are two ways to get here: a traditional Chinese Junk boat or a hydrofoil. We opted for the Junk Boat because of the spectacular wooden design. This boat is the one to take for a leisurely tour of the Bay. It was an amazing trip; we weaved among luscious green peaks jutting out of the South China Sea. The water was calm and we could hear the small waves lapping up against the side of the boat. It was overcast when we made the trip, but the grey sky allowed for us to sit on the third floor observation deck in comfort.

Halong Bay is whatever you make of it. I say this because it is one hell of a tourist trap. Everywhere you go someone is trying to sell you a service. Walking unnoticed down the street isn’t an option here. The merchants even come right into the restaurants while you are eating to solicit their goods. The key is to say no or just plain ignore them. Tourism is their livelihood, whether it is in an official form or not.

Tours are abundant in the Halong Bay area with overnight boat cruises as the main attraction. The bus terminal/boat dock is full of foreigners waiting to board Chinese Junks. It is a really strange site to see: people of every shape, size, color, and age are brought together in their dream of sleeping on a boat. One can pay anywhere from $40US to $140US- one poor bastard did indeed pay that for a three day two night cruise. From what I hear you get what you pay for… well that’s what travel agents tell you when they’re trying to sell you a package deal. They like to discourage people from booking the inexpensive trips by telling horror stories of poor quality and rats running throughout the ship's cabin. However, the trip itineraries are the same regardless of what you pay: the first night is spent on the boat and the second in a hotel on Cat Ba Island. Also included are meals, kayaking, biking, and a trip to Monkey Island (yes to see real monkeys). Conveniently booze does not come with the deal.

Tours are a little pragmatic for my travel style. I do not want to be told to stop doing an activity or leave a location because my time limit is up. We took a half day trip to the Great Wall of China because of the sheer convenience of arranged transportation. We were given a few hours to walk the wall and then forced to socialize over lunch with this Italian couple who spoke little English. It was an awkward experience despite us trying to communicate with each other. The convenience of an arranged trip is also more expensive. We find it fun looking for deals on transportation, hotels, and activities. Sometimes it is hard, but you get a good story out of it.

Now let’s go back to the boat cruise to Cat Ba Island… we were let off at a ferry port about 20kms outside of Cat Ba Town. On the boat the tour guide tried and tried and tried to get us to book a hotel and transportation through him. We had read up on these topics and knew transportation was available for 10,000 Vietnamese Dong (VND) and hotels were a dime a dozen. The exchange rate is about $1 Canadian to 18,000VND. We politely declined. When we got off the boat we were swarmed by men saying motorbike? Motorbike? We were considering this option but had our big packs with us and figured our safety may be compromised. We opted for the bus and walked away from the wolf pack. However we were followed by three men. The motorbike drivers are also conveniently bus drivers. I really hate being pestered and pressured into buying services from people like this. I walked away and sat down with Braeden to discuss our options. Guess what? One of the annoying drivers pulled up a chair, sat down in front of us, and just stared. We basically had two options- grab a bike ride or take the bus. We finally negotiated with one of the men and ended up getting charged 80,000VND. We seriously got ripped off. As Braeden says; “when they’ve got you by the balls what else are you supposed to do?” A couple of Aussies managed to get the bus for 50,000VND, so I suppose we weren’t ripped as bad as we could have been. It is the principal of the matter: there are just no set prices and they have no hold ups on overcharging. It has become a common practice to compare how much we paid with other travelers. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose and it all kind of evens out in the end. To compensate for the boat experience we got our hotel for 150,000VND a night- less than $8 Canadian.

This way of doing business just doesn’t sit well with us and we are bailing after only two nights. We were looking forward to getting away from the hustle of Ha Noi, Vietnam’s Capitol. Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site, which reinforces just how beautiful it really is out here. There are plenty of nature based activities to do like: kayaking, cave exploration, mountain biking, and hiking through the National Park. However when everything comes with a tour and an attached price tag, the adventure aspect is compromised. I am a little soured on Vietnam right now. But it is just Halong Bay. I loved Ha Noi and the people. I guess what I am learning from this experience is that the tourism industry can be a really ugly, ugly thing.