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Halong Bay Tender Port - what to do locally in December?


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Seeking recommendations on what to do locally around Halong Bay Vietnam Tender Port. I'd prefer not to go to Hanoi nor a Halong Bay boat trip.

 

We will be there for 1.1/2 days in December. I assume being winter it will be colder than southern Vietnam.

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There is a market you can walk to where you can purchase all sorts of items.

 

Vietnam is a terrific place to do your souvenir shopping.

 

Keith

 

Thanks, Keith.

 

That is good news as it is our last port of call, prior to a day in Hong Kong, then flight home to Australia in time for Christmas.

 

Do you remember if the markets had clothing?

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Marion you are very welcome.

 

In terms of clothing the market mainly had shirts. The sold a wide range of items though.

 

I believe there were stores nearby so if you wanted clothing I think that would not be a problem.

 

If you have time in Ho Chi Minh City they have a wide range of clothing choices. Also a great place to get prescription glasses if needed.

 

Keith

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Marion you are very welcome.

 

In terms of clothing the market mainly had shirts. The sold a wide range of items though.

I believe there were stores nearby so if you wanted clothing I think that would not be a problem.

If you have time in Ho Chi Minh City they have a wide range of clothing choices. Also a great place to get prescription glasses if needed.

Keith

 

Thanks Keith. We have 1.3/4 days in HCMC.

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Great thread.... sounds like we have a similar itinerary. We also have an overnight in HCMC and Halong. Our stop in DaNang has been changed to Chan May, which is a bit annoying as where we wanted to visit has had a much bigger journey added to it.

 

It’s good to hear there is shopping in Halong. We are going to do the included Junk tour on the first afternoon, but that leaves us all of the next day round to 6pm for things to do.

 

Shopping would be high on the list, but with a similar amount of time in HCMC and 4 days post cruise in HK, I figure we’d need to prioritise what is there is and best places to buy.

 

Good tip on prescription glasses. Not something I’d have thought of.

 

I assume these markets are awash with fake designer goods?

 

 

Don’t suppose anyone knows where Silversea use to dock ... or do small ships tender too?

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les37b, yes there are those "copy" goods. Some call it "original copies".

 

We have found exceptional prices in Vietnam.

 

Hong Kong no longer has the values it used to have. You can get prescription glasses in HK for about 20% less then in the USA but in Vietnam it is substantially less and very good quality.

 

I have seen items in Vietnam and then say in Singapore and the items were substantially cheaper in Vietnam.

 

We have taken the Junk Boat two times in Halong Bay and enjoyed the experience.

 

Weather is always a variable. First time it was sunny and second time foggy but it gave you different perspectives which was nice.

 

Keith

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The market in Halong Bay is pretty dire. Much of it is indoors but it's a pretty grubby and uninteresting place & geared to locals' everyday needs. IMHO the entire town is a waste of even half-a-day. Most interesting sight was a temple which was very small and simple - but it was neon-lit. :confused:

 

You really should consider either the long haul to Hanoi (wouldn't be my choice, the destination not worth the journey), or a junk cruise of four hours or more - on a shorter cruise too much time is spent phut-phutting across the open bay & too little time spent getting lost from civilisation amongst the eerie limestone karsts, an amazing experience.

 

Alternatively I've seen posts on this forum from folk who've taken local half-day tours into the nearby countryside and have enjoyed them.

-------------------------------------------

 

Ben Thanh market in Saigon is well worth a visit. Hundreds of stalls, all under cover, seriously inexpensive and a decent mix of wares.

The market is only a short walk (10 minutes) from Saigon's major sights such as Ho Chi Minh museum, Independence Hall etc.

 

All MHO as always

 

JB :)

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JB the one that we went to in 2014 was not what you described. Maybe we went to a different one that you did.

 

There were no locals at the one we went to. It was really geared to tourists.

 

Keith

 

Hi Keith,

The one you went to, was it near a fish market?

Doesn't matter whether you can remember seeing a fish market - you could smell it from half-a-mile away :D

 

JB :)

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Hi Keith,

The one you went to, was it near a fish market?

Doesn't matter whether you can remember seeing a fish market - you could smell it from half-a-mile away :D

 

JB :)

 

Ouch.

 

JB, I don't remember the market and definitely didn't smell one so I think we went to a different area. Ours was very large and very orderly and not very crowded and again oriented to the locals.

 

I will be sure to not go to the one you did on our next trip there. :)

 

When we were in Africa it seemed like on many of the tours we ended up in fish markets and as much as I love fish when I think of one of the specific markets with the foul smell and the flies buzzing around everywhere I get almost nautious thinking of it.

 

Keith

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We found ourselves back in Ha Long in March 2015 for the second time and both times we had 1 and 1/2 to 2 days.

 

 

First time around we did the half day boat trip and the full day Hanoi. In March 2015 we didn't mind too much repeating the Bay boat trip (which we did) but could not face the very long day to Hanoi and back again so decided to stay in Ha Long instead.

 

 

It took a LOT of digging to find any info on Ha Long City itself because most of the info which comes up in results is lost in amongst the thousands of snippets for Ha Long Bay. Can only suggest you dig deep.

 

 

What we did find was info on a very new (at that time) museum, also a temple and a market. It all sounds a bit predictable but wasn't what you might expect.

 

 

The museum is called Quảng Ninh Museum. This is their website:

TÀNG TỈNH QUẢNG NINH

Địa chỉ: Đường Trần Quốc Nghiễn, phường Hồng Hải, tp Hạ Long

Điện Thoai: 0333.823045 & 0333.825031

Email: baotangquangninh@gmail.com

Website: baotangquangninh.vn

You will find info on it if you search the internet for Quang Ninh Museum, reviews, otherwise it is lost in boat trip reviews. There are a number of them on Tripadvisor and some reviews have info on opening hours and entry cost as well as photos. It is ultra modern, designed by a Spaniard and beautiful inside too, with interesting exhibits. I found info which says it is currently open Tues-Sat only from 0900 and closes for lunch at 11-30 reopening at 2pm but this may or may not be accurate and you would need to check as best you can. It was fairly new when we went and we struggled to get any info in english, eventually taking a chance and going there in a taxi. We had copied a picture of it, with its name, to show the taxi driver. He took us and we paid him to wait for us, which wasn't that long as we had to leave when they closed for lunch, something we had not expected.

 

 

From there we headed back along the new and rather lovely promenade. This has views over many limestone "rocks" in that part of the bay. There were some new buildings opposite the water.Very quickly we came to the area where the fishing boats were unloading and we stopped to watch and take photos. Fascinating to watch the local people busy with their boats and catches. Across the main road but a little out of sight was the indoor/outdoor market, again fascinating to watch the comings and goings there. Our taxi driver took us in a different way so we didn't initially realise that the outdoor market led to that promenade road until we wandered down a street which led to it. We left the taxi as we arrived at the market as we wanted time to ourselves and we also visited the very colourful and busy Long Tien Pagoda, the most important temple in town. It is very close to the market. Many of our fellow cruise pax were in the area of the market and the temple and we had no problem getting a taxi back to the tender point.

I think some ships offer shuttle buses, but our ship (X) did not. If there is a shuttle, I would guess it would run to somewhere close to the temple and market but I do not know.

Reading some of the museum reviews, it appears that the museum area is now very "up and coming" with a new shopping mall and a new Sheraton Hotel.

You could even walk along the seaside promenade between the museum and the markets if you had the time and it wasn't too hot.

Hope some of this helps.

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The museum reviews, info and photos are currently at #27 of 53 on Tripadvisor Halong Bay

 

Thanks edinburgher for your posts. We are on the Celebrity Millennium in January and are not going into Hanoi.. We are looking for something to do on our second day. (First day is a full day on a junk tour).

 

What is the name of the pier where X tenders its passengers to?

 

Thanks

Betty

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A few photos from last visit to Halong Bay on the Junk Boat

 

DSC_0303.jpg

 

 

DSC_0248.jpg

 

 

DSC_3400.jpg

 

 

DSC_3392.jpg

 

DSC_3391.jpg

 

Thanks to everyone for your comments, which are much appreciated. Thanks Keith for the photos. The photo of the local children, all rugged up, confirms that I will need to take some warm winter clothes (from my overseas box). I'm now excited about this port, which will be new to me.

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Thanks edinburgher for your posts. We are on the Celebrity Millennium in January and are not going into Hanoi.. We are looking for something to do on our second day. (First day is a full day on a junk tour).

What is the name of the pier where X tenders its passengers to?

Thanks

Betty

 

I don't know the wharf where Celebrity tenders, but I believe Azamara tenders to Bai Chay Tourist Wharf.

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The market in Halong Bay is pretty dire. Much of it is indoors but it's a pretty grubby and uninteresting place & geared to locals' everyday needs. IMHO the entire town is a waste of even half-a-day. Most interesting sight was a temple which was very small and simple - but it was neon-lit. :confused:

 

You really should consider either the long haul to Hanoi (wouldn't be my choice, the destination not worth the journey), or a junk cruise of four hours or more - on a shorter cruise too much time is spent phut-phutting across the open bay & too little time spent getting lost from civilisation amongst the eerie limestone karsts, an amazing experience.

 

Alternatively I've seen posts on this forum from folk who've taken local half-day tours into the nearby countryside and have enjoyed them.

-------------------------------------------

 

Ben Thanh market in Saigon is well worth a visit. Hundreds of stalls, all under cover, seriously inexpensive and a decent mix of wares.

The market is only a short walk (10 minutes) from Saigon's major sights such as Ho Chi Minh museum, Independence Hall etc.

 

All MHO as always

 

JB :)

 

Thanks for your response, John, re Halong Bay and Saigon.

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We were also onboard Millennium, bigger ship than we would have liked but we wanted some of the ports on that itinerary which were to be new to us.

 

There are different places where cruise ships could tender into, but looking at our info it appears that we were at Bai Chay. The ship info was non existent, even the port info sheets (for both days) for Ha Long Bay were exclusively for Hanoi (including the usual little map) so of no use whatsoever. Being in one location but only having info for a different location was something new to us. There was no shuttle service on our itinerary in 2015. Perhaps that has changed.

 

Be absolutely certain where the tender dock is for your return, as language was an issue with taxi drivers. Check this with the front desk before leaving the ship or a local business when you get off the tender.

 

Ha Long is actually two areas. Bai Chay and Hon Gai, connected by a bridge. We didn't explore anywhere in Bai Chay, heading from the tender dock across the bridge to the Hon Gai section, and on return from Hon Gai we went directly on to the tender.

 

I found this a very frustrating port to research. Info was difficult to find for the city itself, and e-mails to Tourist Info offices in the area were returned undelivered or not replied to. The museum did not respond to an enquiry either.

 

Good luck!

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