Monday, June 27, 2011
Vietnam attracts nearly 3 million foreign tourists in six months
Nearly 3 million foreign tourist arrivals visited Vietnam in the first six months of 2011, a year-on-year increase of 18.1 percent, reported the Vietnam General Statistics Office.
Over the past six months, tourists visiting Vietnam for travel and recreation reached more than 1.77 million, a year-on-year increase of 11.2 percent, while more than 493,000 arrivals came to Vietnam for business purposes, a decrease of 1.7 percent and nearly 513,000 arrivals arrived in Vietnam to visit relatives, a rise of 77.6 percent. For other purposes, the figure was about 186,000 arrivals, a surge of 49.7 percent. On the whole, 2.97 million tourists entered Vietnam for the first 6 months.
Most tourists came to Vietnam by air, with nearly 2.5 million arrivals, making up 83 percent and a year-on-year increase of 23.8 percent.
China still led among markets seeing increasing number of foreign tourists to Vietnam with 662,500 arrivals, up 51.5 percent, followed by the Republic of Korea with nearly 262,000 arrivals, up 3.7 percent, the US with nearly 239,000 arrivals, up 3.4 percent and Japan with 235,000 arrivals, up 11.7 percent.
Over the past six months, Cambodia saw the highest rise in the number of tourists to Vietnam with 77.4 percent compared to the same period last year.
Source VNA - Translated by Dan Tri
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
“The luxury we deserved”
Indochina Sails Premium
We booked the 2 days / 1 night stay on Indochina Sails, deluxe room, 2nd level. Our boat was the 'Indochina Sails Premium', which has only been sailing since Nov 2010, and is very new and luxurious. The rooms (24 rooms) were 5 star hotel rooms essentially, with big rain shower-head, spa bath, private A/C, private balcony (on upper level) and all the trimmings. The dining room, lounge and deck areas were spacious - good for mingling with others or for privacy. The food was great - a good selection at the buffet for lunch on Day 1 & brunch on Day 2. There was a set menu for dinner, Vietnamese and Western cuisine. It was filling and delicious. The staff on the boat were super-friendly and very accommodating for any requests; they really tried to keep everyone entertained if you wanted it that way (Tai Chi, food carving demos). We also took advantage of the on-board massage therapist (extra cost), to keep up the pampering.
Dining room
The trip itself was great. The boat sailed smoothly around Halong Bay with stops at TiTop island for spectacular views, a fishing village (which was a highlight) and the following morning we explored Surprise cave.
It was a fantastic trip with Indochina Sails - definitely not cheap, but if you are looking to spoil yourself and do it in grand style, this is without doubt the way to go! Transfers by minibus from Hanoi were included - it is a bit of a scary trip, but that is just Vietnam I'm afraid!
Halong Bay is spectacular and this trip was a fantastic way to see it! Our only regret was that we didn't book the 3 days / 2 nights instead.
It was a fantastic trip with Indochina Sails - definitely not cheap, but if you are looking to spoil yourself and do it in grand style, this is without doubt the way to go! Transfers by minibus from Hanoi were included - it is a bit of a scary trip, but that is just Vietnam I'm afraid!
Halong Bay is spectacular and this trip was a fantastic way to see it! Our only regret was that we didn't book the 3 days / 2 nights instead.
Visited May 2011
Source: Tripadvisor
Monday, June 20, 2011
Fabulous 2 night stay on the Indochina Sails
After a shaky start (not caused by Indochina but the cancellation of our origional trip with the Bhaya) we boarded the Indochina sails and were greated by a lovely welcome party, a cold drink and face towel. The boat we were allocated was a beautiful Junk, with lots of character. the boat had around 14 cabins, an enclosed dining area, and a sun deck which covered the whole roof of the boat, which contained plenty of sun loungers and seating for everyone on board.
Due to the previous problems with Bhaya, we had been promised a room with a balcony on the ‘replacement’ boat, by the tour agent. Unfortunately when we got on the boat this hadnt been relayed to the Indochina Sails, so we were given a standard cabin – which was very nice – but not what we had been promised. After a quick chat with Jerry, the General Manager of Indochina Sails (who happened to be on our boat that day) we were moved to cabin 201 – this was amazing!! we had a large room with twin beds, a huge bathroom with bath and a rain shower, and of course a lovely balcony with opening doors. We were so happy with our room that we didn't really want to leave it to do the activities!!
The food onboard was very nice, with lots of variety. I was very happy with the food, however my sister (who lives in vietnam) wanted some western style food, as she is used to eating vietnamese food every day, so wasn't as happy as I was – however i dont think you can go wrong with sweet and sour chicken, squid, fried rice dishes, lots of salad and noodle dishes and the amount of fish optioned served was fantastic. the only negative i can say about the food was that the cake/dessert options were not that great! I dont think the vietnamese do cakes very well. this was the general concensus on the boat, however they were OK with a nice cup of tea! Breakfast and lunch was equally good with lots of choices.
The trips off the boat consisted of a visit to the beach (with an optional climb up to a viewing platform if desired!), a trip to a floating village, kayaking through caves, a visit to the suprise cave. we also had the 2 night option, so on our 2nd day we went off for the day on a day cruiser which took us to places for Kayaking, swimming, and a pearl farm.
I have to say that the day boat is not as good as the main boat, and that as i mentioned previously, we felt that we wanted to spend more time enjoying our own cabin and balcony rather than being put onto a seperate boat. however the food was lovely on the day cruiser, and as there were only 4 of us on the 2 night option, we got the whole day cruiser to ourselves. as part of the day cruiser trip we went kayaking into a lagoon and were lucky enough to see a whole family of monkeys!! The guide said it was very unusual for them to be on the rocks right in front of us, and that usually you could only see them high up in the trees. It made our holiday to see them and we stayed watching them in our Kayak for an hour!!
We also took part in the wine tasting which was really good fun – for $15, we got to taste very healthy measures of all 10 wines on offer – however be warned that we only had 1 hour to do this!! we were very tipsy afterwards and we all commented that it would have been better to do the wine tasting on deck after dinner! Jerry was so accommodating, he even sent a transfer boat over to us on our boat to take us off swimming because we were hot! Now that is what i call service!! One word of warning though – if you want to swim off the boat when the smaller transfer boat is not moored alongside – you have to get out of the water using a very steep ladder. My sister and I both struggled with this and we are in our early 30′s. someone less mobile would not be able to do it! It is best to wait for the transfer boat to moor alongside so that you can get in and out of the water with ease!
All in all we had a fabulous trip – I would recommend to anyone. Halong bay is beautiful and the staff on the Indochina Sails made sure we enjoyed every minute of it!
By Julia Burns - Visited in June 2011
(Source Tripadvisor)
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Gifts for Kids on International Children's Day
Indochina Sails once again shows its support for the local communities of Halong Bay. A mini party with gifts and food was held for the young students of the Cua Van floating fishing village Primary School. Our Director of Sales and Marketing and General Manager were among the staff who greeted the children.
See more pictures: here
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Halong Bay is mysteriously beautiful!
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| Majestic Halong Bay |
Mysterious and inspirational are words that come up when thinking of the natural wonder Halong Bay. Imagine nearly 2000 incredibly beautiful islands and rock formations, rising up out of the emerald green water of the Gulf of Tonkin, and you’ll get a vision of breathtaking beauty. Halong Bay looks like art by Mother Nature and will mesmerize every traveler.
Halong Bay is a bay near Ha Long City, in northern Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin, close to the Chinese border. The bay has a 120 km long coastline and the area covers about 1500 km². “Vinh Ha Long” means ‘bay of the descending dragon’. Halong Bay was first listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994 and in 2008 it was nominated as one of the world’s 7 Natural Wonders. Many visitors compare it to Guilin in China and Krabi in southern Thailand, but Halong Bay is often considered more spectacular.
The many limestone islands in the bay are covered by dense vegetation, all the way to the top. The view onto the limestone monoliths is spectacular, especially from one of the many boats sailing between the islands. Several islands are hollow, with enormous caves. Hang Đầu Gỗ (Wooden stakes cave) is the largest of these caves. French tourists visited in the late 19th century, and named the cave “Grotte des Merveilles” (cave of miracles). Its three large chambers contain large numerous stalactites and stalagmites. Many of the islands have acquired their names as a result of interpretation of their unusual shapes. Such names include Voi (elephant), Ga Choi (fighting cock) and Mai Nha (roof). There are nearly a thousand islands with such names.
Close to some of the islands are floating villages. They are one of the main attractions of Halong Bay and provide the inhabitants, besides fishing, with a second source of income. Most of the fishermen still work traditional, which means catching about 200 different species of fish and 450 types of mollusks in shallow water. Animals like chickens, monkeys and lizards live on some of the islands.
Take a boat trip to enjoy the beautiful view, the swimming in the bay, visiting some islands and life on the boat. Often trips like these are offered as a 2-day package. The easiest way to get to Halong Bay is to take the bus from Hanoi to Halong City, which takes about 3 ½ hours, and then take a tourist boat to Cat Ba, which takes about 6 hours. Everything else basically comes naturally and you only have to enjoy.
Source: backpackguru.com
Ha Long Bay!
According to local legend, a long time ago when the Vietnamese were fighting Chinese invaders, the gods sent down a family of dragons to help defend the land. They began spitting out jewels and jade which transformed into thousands of islands and islets dotting the bay, forming a great wall to block the invaders. These thousands of tiny limestone islands enabled the Vietnamese to successfully defend their land. This bay was named Ha Long Bay (Ha means defending, long means dragon), and sits just south of the China Sea. It was recently named a Unesco World Heritage site, and is one of the most amazing things I have seen.
We booked a 2 day, 1 night cruise aboard one of the many “junk” cruises offered to tourists, which was quite amazing! The boat was gorgeous, and the cabins luxurious. It offered not only the nicest stay we had during our entire trip, but also the best shower I have maybe had in my entire life! We went with IndoChina Cruises, and although it was one of the more expensive cruises on Ha Long Bay, I highly recommend this cruise for quality and comfort and activities offered both on and off the ship. Also because there are many not so great ships that we saw, one of which sank the day after our cruise ended, killing 12 people. Seriously heartbreaking. And not to make light of a horrific situation, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem like the crews are overly prepared. During our “safety” talk, all they said was “throw on a life vest and run… don’t even worry about buckling the vest, just try to do that as you’re running to safety.” Hmmm….interesting. However, the junk cruise was my favorite part of the trip, and I highly suggest that anyone visiting Vietnam take one of these cruises, but just make sure to go with a reputable company.
One of the activities that we had on the cruise was a tour of Cua Von, the largest floating fisher village in the Bay. It was quite unbelievable and fascinating to see an entire village situated on rafts that were anchored down so their village would stay put. Full families of multiple generations lived in one room shacks… and they even had dogs! There was a school, a post office, bars and even a restaurant, all part of this fisher village. We learned that water is brought in once a week on a larger ship, and they fill up with buckets for their weekly needs. They have small paddle boats that serve as transportation around the village, and we even saw small children rowing these boats and helping out with chores. We were able to get an up close and personal look inside this community by women who lived there, as they took us in a boat tour around the village. And bright and early the next morning we were greeted by some of these women as they paddled up to our large boat peddling their pearls and handicrafts that they made. I was quite amused when I wanted to look at some jewelry that they were selling but didn’t have a means to get down to the water to look at their offerings (since we were on a ship in the middle of the bay). Just after I yelled this down to them, I was greeted with a large net dancing in front of my face, full of the necklaces that they were trying to sell! When I found one I wanted I put the money in the net and yelled down “Thank you!”, and that’s how the women from the fisher village sell their crafts.
We also had the opportunity to dock at a beach for a while, allowing us time to hike up to Tip Top Point, and afterwards cool off by swimming in the bay. It was such a nice treat swimming in the ocean again, smelling the saltwater and laying out on the beach listening to the waves break the surf and children laughing and screeching out of delight. Oh how I miss the ocean! But probably my favorite thing to do on the cruise was to lay out on the top deck on their comfortable lounge chairs, taking in the fresh air and the cool breeze as we sailed along the bay, and being mesmerized with the beauty all around me. It was truly enchanting!
We booked a 2 day, 1 night cruise aboard one of the many “junk” cruises offered to tourists, which was quite amazing! The boat was gorgeous, and the cabins luxurious. It offered not only the nicest stay we had during our entire trip, but also the best shower I have maybe had in my entire life! We went with IndoChina Cruises, and although it was one of the more expensive cruises on Ha Long Bay, I highly recommend this cruise for quality and comfort and activities offered both on and off the ship. Also because there are many not so great ships that we saw, one of which sank the day after our cruise ended, killing 12 people. Seriously heartbreaking. And not to make light of a horrific situation, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem like the crews are overly prepared. During our “safety” talk, all they said was “throw on a life vest and run… don’t even worry about buckling the vest, just try to do that as you’re running to safety.” Hmmm….interesting. However, the junk cruise was my favorite part of the trip, and I highly suggest that anyone visiting Vietnam take one of these cruises, but just make sure to go with a reputable company.
One of the activities that we had on the cruise was a tour of Cua Von, the largest floating fisher village in the Bay. It was quite unbelievable and fascinating to see an entire village situated on rafts that were anchored down so their village would stay put. Full families of multiple generations lived in one room shacks… and they even had dogs! There was a school, a post office, bars and even a restaurant, all part of this fisher village. We learned that water is brought in once a week on a larger ship, and they fill up with buckets for their weekly needs. They have small paddle boats that serve as transportation around the village, and we even saw small children rowing these boats and helping out with chores. We were able to get an up close and personal look inside this community by women who lived there, as they took us in a boat tour around the village. And bright and early the next morning we were greeted by some of these women as they paddled up to our large boat peddling their pearls and handicrafts that they made. I was quite amused when I wanted to look at some jewelry that they were selling but didn’t have a means to get down to the water to look at their offerings (since we were on a ship in the middle of the bay). Just after I yelled this down to them, I was greeted with a large net dancing in front of my face, full of the necklaces that they were trying to sell! When I found one I wanted I put the money in the net and yelled down “Thank you!”, and that’s how the women from the fisher village sell their crafts.
We also had the opportunity to dock at a beach for a while, allowing us time to hike up to Tip Top Point, and afterwards cool off by swimming in the bay. It was such a nice treat swimming in the ocean again, smelling the saltwater and laying out on the beach listening to the waves break the surf and children laughing and screeching out of delight. Oh how I miss the ocean! But probably my favorite thing to do on the cruise was to lay out on the top deck on their comfortable lounge chairs, taking in the fresh air and the cool breeze as we sailed along the bay, and being mesmerized with the beauty all around me. It was truly enchanting!
***
Source: Kate's Happiness Blog
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