Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Island, 2 days

- Viewed from above, Ha Long Bay looks like an extremely vivid huge drawing. This is a wonderful and skilful masterpiece of the Creation and of nature that turns thousands of dumb soulless stone islands into fantastic sculptural and artistic works of various graceful shapes, both familiar and strange to human beings. Thousands of islands emerging uneven in the fanciful waves look strong and magnificent but also mild and vivid. Amidst these islands we feel as if we were astray in a petrified legendary world....

- Cat Ba is the largest island in the Bay and approximately half of its area is covered by a National Park, which is home to the highly endangered Cat Ba Langur. This golden-headed langur is rarely seen, as fewer than 100 specimens are thought to survive in the wild, although it is the subject of a well-organised conservation programme. The Park covers both land and marine areas and has a high biodiversity, although it is at risk from too rapid an increase in tourism. Other mammals in the Park include civet cats and oriental giant squirrels.

Details of Tour:

Day 1: Hanoi - Halong Bay - CatBa Island

In the morning: our guide and car pick you up at our office at 7h45. Drive to Ha Long city. Stop over in Hai Duong province for a short break. Arrive in Ha Long at 11.30. Have lunch at a restaurant or on the boat

In the afternoon: Cruise through the emerald waters between the limestone outcrops and long corridors, visit THIEN CUNG cave (the cave of the heavenly palace - famous for its stalagmites and stalactites) A short way visit the newly discovered DAU GO grotto (wooden stakes'-wherein 1288 one of Vietnam's most famous Generals Tran Hung Dao amassed hundreds of stakes deep inside the cave prior to a battle within invading Mongol army). On the way you will enjoin Tam Cung Cave and Dau Nguoi (Human Head) islet... Keep sailing to Cat Ba Island. Arrive in Cat Ba Island at 6.00. Walk around the Island for sightseeing. Overnight at hotel in Catba island.

Day 2: CatBa Island - Hanoi

In the morning: After breakfast. Leave Cat Ba for Ha Long city. You will enjoy Van Gia fishing village with kindergarten shool, which are sported by the French en route. Continue on to cruise to Soi Sim beach, stop for a swim, and then visit Ga Choi, Dinh Huong, Co Don, Cho Da islets on the way. Arrive in Ha Long city at 11.40. Have lunch at restaurant

In the afternoon: Road trip back to Hanoi with stop-over in DaiNghia humanity center. Arrive Hanoi about 17h00. Finish tour.

Tour price:

The trip includes:

• The car with air-condition

• Twin - share accomodation with daily breakfas in Cat Ba Island.

• English speaking tour guide (other languge are avaitable upon request )

• Meals specified in tour program (Main: $4 & ABF:$2)

• All entrance, permission and visiting fees

• Boat trip in Halong Bay in progam.

The trip excludes 

• Visa to Vietnam

• Departure airport tax

• Meals which are not included in the program

• Personal travel & medical insurance

• International flights to and from Vietnam

• All personal & daily expenses

• All gratuities and tips to drivers and guides

Note:

• Surcharges for peak seasons, Christmas and New Year Holidays, lunar New Year Festival, extras for room, air tickets upgrades shall be applied

• Group tour: To join with other people on available daily tours. These tours are fixed itinerary and deparute time. It is possible to join in even your group of only 1 or 2 people. Customer do not to find other people to form the group. It is our company duty to gather the tourists for each tour. For these tours, you have to share the coach, boat and tour guide with other tourists who come from different nationalities. The number of people of this group is normally less than 16 persons.

• Private tour: To do the tour privately. The tour is not fixed, it is possible to be customized for your group. All service is reserved for your group only. You do not have to share the bus, boat, tour guide with other tourists. One exception, if you stay at the boat in Halong bay - it is like the hotel in Halong - you still have to share the boat with other people.

HaLong Bay and CatBa Island:

Overview

The legend of Halong has it that, "Once upon a time, soon after the Viett people established their country, invaders came. The Jade Emperor sent Mother Dragon and her Child Dragons down to earth to help the Viet people fight against their enemy. Right at the time invaders" boats were rushing to the shore, the dragons landed down on earth. The dragons immediately sent out from their mouths a lot of pearls, which then turned into thousands of stone islands emerging in the sea like great walls challenging the invaders' boats. The fast boats couldn't manage to stop and crashed into the islands and into each other and broke into pieces.

After the victory, Mother Dragon and Child Dragons didn't return Heaven but stayed on earth at the place where the battle had occurred. The location Mother Dragon landed is nowadays Halong Bay and where Child Dragons descended is now Bai Tu Long. The dragons' tails waving the water created Long Vi (present Tra Co peninsula) and formed a fine sand beach over ten kilometers long".

Halong Bay is located in the northeastern part of Vietnam and constitutes part of the western bank of Bac Bo Gulf, including the sea area of Halong City and Cam Pha Town and part of Van Don island district. It abuts Cat Ba Island in the southwest. Toward the west is the shore with a 120 km-long coastline. It is located within 106o58'-107o22' east longitude and within 20o45'- 20o50' north latitude. The site is 1553 sq. km with 1969 islands of various sizes, of which 989 have been named.

The islands in Halong Bay are mainly limestone and schist islands most lying in the two main areas: the southeastern part of Bai Tu Long Bay and southwestern part of Halong Bay. These islands represent the most ancient images of a geographical site having a tectonic age of from 250 million to 280 million years. They are the result of many times of rising and lowering processes of the continent to form a karst. The process of nearly full erosion and weathering of the karst created the unique Halong Bay in the world. In a not very large area, thousands of islands with different forms look like glittering emeralds attached to the blue scarf of a virgin. The area where many stone islands concentrate has spectacular scenes and world-famous caves and is the center of Halong Bay Natural Heritage, including Ha Long Bay and a part of Bai Tu Long Bay.

The area is recognized as the World Natural Heritage that is the area of 434 sq. km with 775 islands. It looks like a giant triangle with Dau Go Island (in the west), Ba Ham Lake (in the south) and Cong Tay Island (in the east) as its three angle points. The nearby area is the buffer area and areas classified as national beauty spots in 1962 by the Ministry of Culture and Information.

Viewed from above, Halong Bay looks like an extremely vivid huge drawing. This is a wonderful and skilful masterpiece of the Creation and of nature that turns thousands of dumb soulless stone islands into fantastic sculptural and artistic works of various graceful shapes, both familiar and strange to human beings. Thousands of islands emerging uneven in the fanciful waves look strong and magnificent but also mild and vivid. Amidst these islands we feel as if we were astray in a petrified legendary world. There are many names given to islands according to their shapes and forms. This one looks like somebody heading toward the shore: Hon Dau Nguoi (Human Head Island); that one looks like a dragon hovering above the sea surface: Hon Rong (Dragon Island); another looks like an old man sitting fishing: Hon La Vong; some look like big sails struggling amidst the wind to set off for the sea: Hon Canh Buom (Sail Island); then two islands look like a pair of chicken lovingly playing with each other above the sea: Hon Trong Mai (Male and Female Chicken Island); and amid the vast sea stands an island like a big incense burner like a ritual offering to Heaven: Hon Lu Huong (Incense Burner Island). All are so real that people are taken aback by them. Those stone islands have experienced unpredictable changes over time and they take different shapes from different angles of view. Here, we come to realize that they are not dumb inanimate things but are vivid and soulful.

Inside the stone islands are various breath-taking caves, such as Thien Cung, Dau Go, Sung Sot, Trinh Nu, Tam Cung and others. These are really magnificent palaces of the Creation on earth. Long ago, Halong Bay has been called by the great national poet Nguyen Trai: "a wonder of the earth erected towards the high sky". Many men of letters from all over the world have been taken aback at the grandiose scenery of Halong. They seem to get puzzled and incompetent as their treasure of vocabulary is not rich enough to depict the splendor of this place.

Halong Bay is also attached to glorious pages of Vietnamese history, with famous sites such as Van Don, a bustling trade port in the 12th century, charming Bai Tho Mountain, and not very far away from here is the Bach Dang River which witnessed two famous naval battles of the Viet's ancestors against invaders. Also, Halong is one of the cradles of human kind with the glorious Halong culture in the late Neolithic age, discovered at such archeological sites as Dong Mang, Xich Tho, Soi Nhu and Thoi Gieng.

Halong is also home to great biodiversity with typical eco-systems like mangrove forest, coral and tropical forest. It is also home to thousands of plants and animals of numerous species, for example shrimp, fish and squid. Some species are particularly rare and can be found no where else.

With such special values, at the 18th Session of UNESCO's Council of World Heritage held on 17 December 1994 in Thailand, Ha Long Bay was officially placed on the list of the World Natural Heritage. In 2000, UNESCO recognized it as the World Heritage for the second time for its geographical and geomorphologic values. This confirms the global premier value of Halong Bay.

Wherever you come from, whosoever you are and however old you are, you will certainly experience the same emotion and feeling when admiring this wonder of stone and water. And great experiences will always remain even when you leave the place. The legend of Mother Dragon and Child Dragons sending out pearls to form thousands of stone islands to stop invaders still serve as the soul of this invaluable heritage of the world.
Have you ever come to Halong, the unique wonder of the world of its kind, to admire and explore secretes implicit in the place?

Cat Ba Island

Cat Ba is an island of approximately 140 sq.km in Ha Long Bay, Northern Vietnam. It is commonly used as an overnight hotel stop on inexpensive package tours to Ha Long Bay run by travel agents from Hanoi.

Cat Ba is the largest island in the Bay and approximately half of its area is covered by a National Park, which is home to the highly endangered Cat Ba Langur. This golden-headed langur is rarely seen, as fewer than 100 specimens are thought to survive in the wild, although it is the subject of a well-organised conservation programme. The Park covers both land and marine areas and has a high biodiversity, although it is at risk from too rapid an increase in tourism. Other mammals in the Park include civet cats and oriental giant squirrels.

Cat Ba town, showing the limestone hills behind the waterfront stripMany tour operators include an option of trekking in the National Park or canoeing on three-day tours; shorter tours generally only stay overnight in the small town of Cat Ba (population about 8,000) or on boats moored in Cai Beo bay, about 2km away from Cat Ba town. Cat Ba itself is attractively situated around a bay teeming with small boats, many of which belong to pearl or shrimp farmers, and can become very busy at weekends and during public holidays. The promenade has illuminations and a large fountain which only plays after dark; it is backed by a strip of cheap hotels and bars, but dominated by the wooded limestone hills behind. The island is a national park of Vietnam and was recognized by UNESCO in December 2004 as a Biosphere reserve of the world.

Hai Phong -  the old charm within an exciting seaport

Unlike its two neighboring sites of Halong and Cat Ba, Hai Phong attracts less tourists unless, of course, they arrive in Northern Vietnam by sea. Nonetheless, this seaport city has many charming architectural buildings which were evidently influenced by the early 20th century French colonial style. The old French regime invested a lot of money to build this seaport attraction. Visiting Hai Phong is an exciting experience. You can go to the city to different ways. You can go there by crossing on the Cam River Ferry, you can reach the city overland from Halong Bay or you can take it will and run along the coast of Vietnam for 12 kilometers either from Halong or Cat Ba Island. Both sea ways offer wonderful views with plenty of islands along the Halong and Cat Ba archipelago. Quite a few tourists choose this way to avoid going over the same routes once more.

There are some remarkable ancient Vietnamese architectural sites in Hai Phong. Du Hang Pagoda, the centre of Buddhism in Hai Phong, is a very pure and graceful temple that was built in 17th century with some renovations being completed afterward. The pagoda contains a lot of amazing woodworks, bronze statues and a bonsai collection right on the front grounds. An array of Buddha and Bodhisattva statues highlight a circular pond of water lilies in a flowery garden and a tranquil towered-grave yard, where the monks who had resided in the pagoda are buried. If you should through luck, arrive on a new moon or a full, you will have a chance to take fascinating pictures of the religious women of Hai Phong with their black velvet scarves and long brown dresses in signs of respect as they sit in and around the main shrine of the pagoda while the monks pray or give lectures on Buddhism.

Not far from the pagoda, at the end of a very narrow market street is Hang Kenh Pavilion, which is dedicated to the Vietnamese hero Ngo Quyen who lived in 10th century. Being a Communal House of the Kenh village in the old time, the Pavillion is famous for its wooden bas-relieves, sculptures and special boat-shaped interior. If you would prefer to stroll into the city, your visit should start at the colonial quarter around Dien Bien Phu street and Tran Hung Dao street. From there you can go to the old Opera House and then walk around Tam Bac Lake. There are 5 roofed kiosks on the Eastern side of the lake with fresh flowers sold by smiling girls. On the Southern side of the lake is the exciting Hang Kenh Tapestry which produces woolen carpets for export.