Choosing best Halong cruise holiday

Vietnam has two places that passengers can take cruise: Halong bay and Mekong River. Both of those names are very popular in geographical aspect, and so is cruising destination. This post is going to discuss some general ideas to pick a cruise best fitting interests and budgets

Halong bay, yes it is, the most well-known place of Vietnam for all travelers. Many things making this fame can be listed but the most widely known is twice recognized as Natural World Heritage. And best activity in Halong bay must be sailing. Recent years, cruising trips in Halong widely extend to overnight trip on-board. Today, there is hundreds of cruises (actually wooden junks) operating their business in Halong bay. Due to the rapidly increasing number of Halong junks, the competition has been becoming tougher and tougher which eventually help customers enjoy many benefits. Cruising in Halong bay has never been that easy and cheap

The passengers should know that cruising route here is nearly similar for all junks. Cruise companies just adjust the itinerary a little to best fit to junks’ size and piers then reorder the visiting sites making it sound different. Moreover, the itinerary runs as a circle meaning embark and disembark at the same pier. Each company often has some junks in their fleet then cruises in Halong bay actually can embark everyday. With overnight trips, there are two typical programs: 2 days and 3 days. For longer trips, the passengers are expected to charter the cruise. So when choosing a Halong junk, two features only should be taken into account: boat size (length, width, how many cabins? How many passengers max onboard? ect) and price. This feature is very much different from Mekong cruises which will be told in next post

There is a general rule: the bigger the junk is, the lower privacy it can offer. The junks in Halong today widely differ in size from: very private 01-02 cabin per boat (like Princess cruise), to small ones 5-6 cabins (like Violet and Valentine) up to 14-17 cabins per boat (most popular like: Jasmine, Indochina Sails) and even 32 cabins (like Victory Star cruise). The services on board is various too, from standard ones (as famous, long-standing Bait ho junks), to deluxe and affordable (like Dragon Pearl, Emotion, Oriental Sails), or luxury ones (like Indochina Sails, Ginger, Jasmine) or beyond-your-imagination services of which Violet and Paradise are most typical. Thanks to that, price for a trip here can widely range from about 120$ per person up to 400US$ person for 1 night trip. With longer trip and/or some additional services, the price is more. To sum up, passengers pick a suitable cruise very much depending on the expected privacy and budget. Great news is almost Vietnam cruise agents offering price including all service charges and taxes, then you do not have to pay any extra for taxes.

Based on our own experience (VietnamCruiseTrips.com and HolidayIndochina.com/cruises) and our customers’ feedbacks: the best luxury cruise in Halong bay now is Violet. The luxury services but most affordable cruise is Indochina Sails. The top picked cruises are Jasmine junk and Indochina Sails. The best standard cruise is Bait ho junks

How to have great holiday with kids?

Fed up with the stresses and strains of a working life in London that left little time to spend with our two boys (then aged 6 and 3), my partner and I decided to do the modern equivalent of running away to join the circus: we let the apartment and took the kids travelling the world for a couple of years.

We had little idea of how we would cope, whether we could provide an education for the children, and if three months later we would be home, shamefaced, saying ‘Oh, it just didn’t work out’. Here we are, though, a year and a quarter later having crossed Borneo, Indonesia, Thailand and Laos, and having had the adventures of a lifetime along the way.

If you’re thinking of a similar adventure, here are a few things we’ve learned along the way:

Kids and travel do mix
Don’t assume that children are a barrier to intrepid travel; they are surprisingly tough and thrive on adventure. Our lives are richer for having stayed in a tribal longhouse in Sarawak, Borneo; spotted orang-utans in the majestic rainforests of Malaysia; and cycled through the dreamy karst scenery and tranquil villages of Laos. The kids are always first to make people smile, and if they are too young to walk far you can often ‘cheat’ by hiring transport to villages close to the road.

Don’t set too hectic a pace
Small children tire quickly when things become monotonous and need to be able to spend a good deal of time just playing. If you’ve been moving around a lot, stop somewhere nice and give your family a chance to recharge batteries and make friends. It’s amazing how quickly a place feels like home.

Take proper precautions with your family’s health
Take out insurance, plan your vaccinations in good time and find out how to keep your family safe before you go. But don’t be paranoid: our children have both been healthier than they ever were in London.

Beware the buses
Travel in the developing world often involves appallingly long, uncomfortable bus journeys with speed-freak drivers, doubtful safety standards and aircon that is permanently set to ‘max’. We keep spare clothes and sick bags (as well as games and books) in the hand luggage, but when we can we take the train, boat or plane instead.

Keep yourselves sane
They may be the apples of your eye, but caring for children 24/7 while experiencing the ups and downs of long-term travel can be tiring and stressful. When the opportunity arises, we hire childcare and take a romantic evening out together, or we take it in turns to head off and indulge in more individual pursuits, such as diving or climbing.

Educating on the road
You’ll need to give your kids an education, of course. We have had to discipline ourselves to set aside a few hours every weekday for some one-on-one home schooling. It hasn’t always been easy – the boys would much rather be off grubbing around in the dirt chasing small creatures – but we generally win them over by adapting exercises to their interests and making use of our surroundings in the lessons.

Take a laptop
Apart from its important roles as cinema, games console and Skype-with-the-rellies hub, a computer has been a vital tool for our home schooling. We can access educational resources and conduct research wherever there is Wi-Fi.

It is a cliché, of course, but travelling itself is the best education. Rather than just heading to the beach, seek out interesting and unusual experiences to maximise the value of your trip. Our boys have wandered reef, forest and mountain; hung out with some startlingly different cultures; explored ancient temples and exotic markets; and seen crocodiles, hornbills, orang-utans and many more creatures – in the wild, not in a zoo. Experiences like those can’t be had at school.

By Lonely Planet

Tags: family travel, travel with kids, Vietnam holidays with kids, private family Vietnam holidays, vietnam family travel, Vietnam holidays for children, Vietnam holidays, best Vietnam holidays for kids, private family Vietnam holidays

Travelling in Southeast Asia's wet season

I got up this morning and found my mood so down due to rainy, stormy weather outside. Today, a day in early of October in Hanoi, should a wonderful autumn day with cool breeze, yellow sunshine and extremely comfortable. Riding on my motor bike under cold rain to office, I just thought about travellers who by chance now here in Hanoi. How disappointed they might find because of this unfavorable weather, I thought??? Taking bad mood to office, opened my computer, started surfing Internet for some work then this post appeared in my eyes. Interesting post!!! Happen perfectly match my situation. Yes, it is!!! It's rainy, then ... What's up! Let it rain, we enjoy in our own way!!!

"It’s the rainy season in Southeast Asia. Don’t worry, it probably won’t rain all the time – probably just in the afternoon (admittedly, rather a lot). Even though the rainy season gets a bad reputation, chances are you’ll get sunny, dry mornings and some unexpected bonuses:

Cooler temperatures: in a lot of Asia, the rain drops the mercury and provides some sweet relief from the heat. You may get wet, but you won’t melt.

Fewer tourists: you don’t often get a chance to feel alone in Asia. If getting a bit of space is what you’re after, the rainy season is your best bet.

Lower prices: more splashing of the water, less splashing of the cash. Fewer travellers and lighter demand on accommodation and services means lower prices.

Greener greenery: every cliché you’ve ever heard about the lush greens of the tropics is true. You really haven’t seen green till you’ve seen green in the tropical wet season.

Easier storm-chasing: There’s actually no chasing to be done. Just hunker down somewhere dry with a view (bars are good for this) and watch nature work her magic. Watching tropical storms roll in is pretty spectacular.

Better photos: lightning, dramatic colour changes, dark storm clouds - these are the ingredients of photos way cooler than the blue-skies-and-fluffy-white-clouds kind.

Great excuses: there’s nothing like a bit of torrential rain for an excuse to just do nothing. Lie in bed and listen to the rain. Sit under a deck and watch it. Read. Play cards. Be on holiday. Don’t feel guilty about not exploring that cave or climbing that mountain.

Funnier sights: sit back and watch those who don’t let the rain ruin their parade – plastic-poncho-clad school kids balancing umbrellas on bicycles; hundreds of brollie-wielding pedestrians passing one another in the street without causing injury (more photo opps).

More excuses: if you get caught out, and get stuck at a shelter or a bar (oops) while the storm hits, chances are you won’t be alone, and if ever there were a legitimate time to engage in a conversation with a stranger (maybe start with the weather)…

Try out a trip in the wet season. You’ll be in for a treat. So, where will you watch the rain from?

By Louise Clarke - Lonely Planet Author"

Posted by Liz - Holiday Indochina