Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam

[rsh]

Hi everyone -

I am going back to Viet Nam in a couple of days and my mouth is already watering in anticipation of all of the good food I'll get to eat. I am fairly comfortable from other time I have spent there that I can generally find great things to eat BUT: I am possibly going to go on an overnight Ha Long Bay cruise from Ha Noi. The last time I was in Viet Nam I did this as a day trip and while the scenery was magnificent the food was absolutely crap. Searching on the internet seems to reveal that for the most part, my experience was par for the course: these boats cater to western tastes and more or less give you heaps of not-so-good food.

So my question is this: has anyone been on a junk in Ha Long bay that actually serves food that is anywhere close to excellent/great/good Vietnamese food? It seems like such a shame to waste five meals (BLD day 1, BL day 2) out of only 9 days in the country if the option is just lame tour group food.

Any recommendations are very welcome. Thanks so much in advance!

Rob

[mediakzar]

Well, it wasn't a junk and the food was what I would call good but not great when we spent a couple days on the Emeraude in Halong Bay. The ship is a replica of French made single-wheeled paddle steamer. The cabins were small but serviceable. The best part of the experience was having drinks on the deck while taking in the breath-taking views. All meals are buffet style with both Vietnamese and European selections served at lunch & dinner and mostly American/European at breakfast. I do recall that there were a lot of Frenchmen on our trip and screams of "fromage, fromage" and a stampede at the sight of the cheese tray at the lunch and dinner.

Hi everyone -

I am going back to Viet Nam in a couple of days and my mouth is already watering in anticipation of all of the good food I'll get to eat.  I am fairly comfortable from other time I have spent there that I can generally find great things to eat BUT: I am possibly going to go on an overnight Ha Long Bay cruise from Ha Noi.  The last time I was in Viet Nam I did this as a day trip and while the scenery was magnificent the food was absolutely crap.  Searching on the internet seems to reveal that for the most part, my experience was par for the course: these boats cater to western tastes and more or less give you heaps of not-so-good food.

So my question is this: has anyone been on a junk in Ha Long bay that actually serves food that is anywhere close to excellent/great/good Vietnamese food?  It seems like such a shame to waste five meals (BLD day 1, BL day 2) out of only 9 days in the country if the option is just lame tour group food.

Any recommendations are very welcome.  Thanks so much in advance!

Rob

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[eternal]

We did an overnight on Ha Long Bay about 3 weeks ago. The company we took was Bai Tho. We thought the cabins were pretty nice. I mean, they aren't cruise ship quality but they are clean and work fine. There is basically no room in them - they are just there for sleeping.

While the scenery is the main attraction, the food on our boat was definitely one of the highlights! There wasn't anything fancy in the prep but it was all incredibly fresh seafood. For the lunch the first day, everything was pretty much steamed - big crabs (cracked at the table for us) and shrimp along with a few other dishes. There was no menu but everything was plated and sent to us as it was finished to each table got their food at slightly different times.

For dinner, the method was changed to frying/baking and we had stuffed crab, stir-fried giant prawns in sweet/spicy tomato based sauce, deep fried fish, and fried rice and some fried pork in a mustard sauce. Again, everything came out hot and fresh and tender.

Lunch the next day was less seafood and more western with french fries and whatnot and honestly I can't remember what it was (maybe some stir-fried pork and noodles?) - nothing memorable but a nice change from the copious amounts of seafood we had already eaten.

We all really liked the food and had a great time on the trip. Bai Tho is highly recommended (the tour guide said the food is pretty much the same on all their boats).

[BonVivant]

i was supposed to stay the night on board but decided to get off. never got to eat the food on board but was glad i came ashore. the 'fresh beer' which came in a plastic jerry can alone was a good enough reason to abandon ship. i did buy a crab and prawns from a fishing boat that was sailing along side my boat. the cook [on my boat] made 2 dishes and charged me 2 euros for his service. that was rather nice. all creatures were jumpingly fresh.

[Peter Green]

i was supposed to stay the night on board but decided to get off.  never got to eat the food on board but was glad i came ashore.  the 'fresh beer' which came in a plastic jerry can alone was a good enough reason to abandon ship.  i did buy a crab and prawns from a fishing boat that was sailing along side my boat.  the cook [on my boat] made 2 dishes and charged me 2 euros for his service.  that was rather nice.  all creatures were jumpingly fresh.

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Our experience (ages ago) was like BonV's: buy good, fresh food from the eager salesfolk pulled up alongside, and stick to the simple enjoyment of good ingredients. Toss the detritus over the side to chum the water for the swimmers' general excitement.

Do you have to stay overnight? One spectacular bit of karst topography starts to look pretty much like another after a few hours.

I look forward to the pictures and the write-up.

[eternal]

You don't have to spend the night, but the 3 hour drive to Ha Long bay from Hanoi is a bit tiring to try twice in one day - though I suppose you could stay in one of the resorts nearby.

I dunno though - we had a great time in Ha Long Bay. One of the highlights of our 3 months on the road for sure. If you are by yourself, maybe a different story but hanging out on the deck with a bottle of wine, watching the karsts go by, swimming off the beach by the cave and well the cave itself was might impressive. We stayed up late playing cards and drinking bottles of beer. Good times.

I don't have time to make a egullet specific set here right now, but here's the one from our flickr site. You can ignore all the cheesy posed shots

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14628299@N00/...eted=3348572995

Edited March 15, 2009 by eternal (log)