Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Sail Back to 1930s Indochina


A popular way to cruise Ha Long Bay is an overnight stay on a junket boat. They are small and intimate replicas of old ships, and though they do offer short side excursions to caves and floating villages, the experience is really all about drifting the soothing waters of the bay.


"Do you ever get tired of cruising these same waters every day?" I asked our ship captain.

"I would never go back to my hectic life in Hanoi. I love the peace here," was his answer.

Vietnam Travel Tip: We highly recommend this junket experience. There are dozens of cruise lines to choose from, but we ended up on the Jasmine Ha Long Bay. The rooms with balconies were great, and the bathrooms were huge!

15 comments:

bingata744 said...

Wow!!! Someday we will get to Vietnam. Unfortunately, when we have the time to spend in Asia, we want to spend it in Okinawa/
Japan. What to do, what to do? Your descriptions of all your travels are a joy to read -- and I think that's because you take such joy in your travels! Keep it up as we can all live vicariously through you and then hopefully visit some of these spots.

Mary and Sean said...

Bingata,
Thanks! It makes me happy to hear when others get motivated to travel... I'm sort of obsessed with travel, if you hadn't noticed

Mary and Sean said...

AC,
The boat cruise was romantic, until Sean got sick for about 12 hours... I didn't show that part of it!

Pete 'n Stephy said...

oh my gosh SOOO awesome!!! I have to do this!!!
Did something kind of similar in Maine...http://www.stephentaber.com/

was the best vacation ever!

Meliha said...

Wow this looks amazing! You took some really great photos...I love the one of the bedroom (it looks so relaxing!).

Fly Girl said...

Your pix are gorgeous. I love charming boat cruises like these.

The Howes Family said...

The bay shot is amazing with all those boats. It looks like a different time. Lovely.

Ekua said...

Looks like a lovely day. Did you get those crab cakes inside of a crab shell on your tour? The ones I had in Vietnam were amazing and I don't even like crab!

Anonymous said...

as everyone said: it looks excelent!

I'm amazed at how much confortable the rooms look!

Eve said...

Hi Mary, Wow Vietnam is beautiful! I've had a great time reading your blog and thank you so much for sharing your travel advice and experiences. We'll be getting to Okinawa in March and are stopping at Honolulu and Tokyo on the way over. I'm excited to finally do some traveling!

Anonymous said...

I love your blog. I currently live in Okinawa and was just curious which of your trips have been the least expensive. I would love to start traveling more while we are here, but would like to do the inexpensive ones first and save up for the more expensive ones. Enjoy reading!

Mary and Sean said...

Anonymous,

Thanks! Okay, as far as least expensive countries to visit, that would be Cambodia and Vietnam. Food, entertainment, and hotel was super cheap, BUT the flights were really costly since we went at Xmas time.

In terms of the cost of travel, getting to mainland Japan was not bad (about $250 each) and if you stay in the New Sanno, that's a great deal ($60/night), BUT then the cost of everything else there can be pretty high.

I guess I'd say mainland Japan is a good starting point as long as you're choosy about how you spend while you're there. We try to avoid typical things that are expensive or we trade off some other way (get a cheap meal one night, moderate the next, etc). That helps too.

China is also cheap, but you have to buy a visa to get in and then it's hard to get around as an independent traveler not on a tour, so you end up paying jacked up prices there. I recently went back to Shanghai on my own and was kind of shocked how much we overpaid the first time, but it's sort of a live and learn experience you have to go through once.

Hope this helps!

shopgirl said...

Hey Mary,

I love the photos of your boat trip. The rooms looks so lovely and spacious. I can't believe they are that nice?!!

Anyhow, I'm glad you guys had a fantastic time! Remember, you can ask me anything about Italy.

xoxo

Rambles with Reese

Stacie said...

What an amazing trip...I don't think I would want to leave either...it is so cool that you guys are taking advantage of traveling so much while you are there...great post too!

Becca said...

Catching up on your recent posts, and, as always, they are just so fun and enjoyable to view. I hope you are still blogging if my hubby ever gets stationed in Japan because you have so much great advice!

This looks wonderful...

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