Ha Long Bay, Vietnam travel : how to reach

We took a one-day trip to Ha Long Bay from Hanoi on December 28 2022.

Ha Long Bay is a world UNESCO heritage site since 1994. Its about 2.5 hours by road from Hanoi, and is most of the most popular day trips. Its most famous for its many islands (over 1100)-  rugged, rocky and heavily wooded; the water really is emerald green (we thought this was just hyperbole, but it really was!) and there are some spectacular caves on some islands. Ha Long (which means the ‘descending dragon’) has become the symbol, the most recognized natural formation for Vietnam and with good reason! Over the years tourism has steadily increased here, and now the logistics seem well settled.

There are several options, from private buses to tours. Most visitors do a day trip but there are now hotels and cruise ships on which you can stay overnight as well, but expensive. We left our hotel Tirant in the old quarter around 845amm and returned to the hotel around 9 pm the same day. This was December 2022, and it was decently cold on the water- that’s a tip- wrap up warmly! Ha Long bay in December can have cold winds and mist like any European winter! 

Most options cost US$ 55-65 per head in December 2022 (please check latest prices); the one we finally booked was US$ 60 per head. 

Our tour operator, booked via Viator, was VietnamTonkin Travel and Cruises. The bus was quite nice and we were quite impressed with the organization of the trip- the coordinator Mr Trinh Tran was in good touch with us thru whatsapp (which seems the preferred method of communication in Vietnam). As expected, the bus stops at a oyster/ pearl shop and set up on the way for a quick break. The marina to Ha Long bay is quite like an airport terminal with a few shops and counters. The transfer from bus to boat at Ha Long bay shore was quite smooth, and the boat itself was clean and neat. But the most surprising part was the included food. It was quite good- simple, tasty and had good vegetarian options as well (noodles, rice, dimsum, and  local wine / beer/ soft drinks).

Everything was on time, and quite enjoyable. More surprising ( to Indians at least), which also shows how little visitors know about Vietnam, was the good quality of the roads from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay. Could be specially made for the tourist trade, but it was smooth and painless. There were no constant start-stop / grinding gear changes that are so common in India. 

Full details of the visit in next posting! 

All in all, good day trip and worth the effort and money.

The coffee of Vietnam – Iced coffee, egg coffee and the cafes!

Giang Cafe, Hanoi 

Vietnam is famous for its various types of coffee, and the country has successfully cultivated the industry and imagery for a connoisseur of coffee. This is in spite of the fact that Vietnamese coffee we found tended to be more bitter and dense than the usual, and quite often was a cultivated taste. However, there’s a lot of variety in it, and its become quite well accepted. Accordingly, we also decided to take a “coffee run” in Hanoi to see what it was all about.

The most prominent brand that we saw everywhere was actually Highlands coffee, similar to Café Coffee Day in India, or like Starbucks. It has its own coffee farms and brands, and runs cafés, which we found practically where in Vietnamese cities, like Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).

Iced Coffee, Hanoi 

Egg Coffee, Giang Cafe

There were a few things right off the bat. First was the egg coffee, which we tried at Giang Coffee (see picture). This is an old place, on the first floor and not very attractive at first look- full of stools and low tables and nooks and crannies, but it was well frequented and did not give any negative vibes. Its also in the old quarter and is famous for the thick coffee with egg yolk, Robusta Beans, condensed milk and sugar. A thick concoction (see photo). It’s a cultivated taste, for sure. And unique- a good experience.

The other thing was the Vietnamese iced coffee which we had at a place called Kafa (see photo). This is made by letting coffee drip thru a filter into a glass of condensed milk and ice ,and the flavours of condensed milk and bitter coffee make for a unique brew! This is widely available as well.

Our coffee run went from The Giang, to Highlands ( near the Tha Long Water Puppet theatre) , to Kafa and Trung, typical Hanoi places around the old quarter. Not many tourists when we were there but a lot of young people. Good cool vibes around the place.

When in Vietnam, don’t forget to try the coffee. It is a different taste and style than what we see perhaps in India or western countries, and which has now become a USP for Vietnam itself.

Hotel Review: The Tirant, Hanoi - Good hotel in a great location

The Tirant Hotel (pronounced "Tai-Rang") in the Gia Ngu Street,
also came recommended thru Club7Holidays. It was in the old quarter, very close to the Water Puppet show Theatre and right in the center of shops and coffee cafes, for which Hanoi is famous.

From the outside, the hotel and its sister hotel (Rex) are cheek and jowl with other buildings and a host of cars and retailers all around. Looks very much like Mumbai or Delhi, especially Delhi with its buildings with common walls everywhere between residences. But that’s the charm of many of these cities in Asia- so alive and vibrant, so tightly integrated and inter dependent. Very familiar to most Asians (especially Indians) and very exotic for the western world.

The lobby 

The Tirant was well done up inside. Quick check-in and well-appointed  room ( though it was a bit tight for three beds), but that wasn’t a major issue. The bathroom was quite large after the one in Siem Reap, and overall, it was a slick, modern hotel -quite surprising to many if they form an opinion of the surroundings of the hotel.

Breakfast was, as we had come to expect in Indochina, not very hep- but much better in its mix ( noodles / eggs/ breads etc). Its too much to expect completely standardized food but a judicious mix of International and local would be expected and welcome.  As good, seasoned travelers, we did carry our own food when the local cuisines got a tad too much, but that’s a personal preference.

Double room with extra bed

There were some key aspects we liked our choice finally. One, it was in the heart of the old quarter, the really original Hanoi, which we tend to see in all the pictures of the city. Full of souvenir shops at every corner. Two, very close to the Ho Hoan Kiem (lake) with its Confucius temple with a leafy nice walkway around it; three, walking distance from the Tha Long Water Puppet Theatre, of the really unique highlights of Hanoi ( more on these later), and four, absolute walking distances from several coffee cafes- Highlands, Giang for its egg coffee, The Note, Trung Coffee, Kafa, a hole in the wall cafe, and Timeline Coffee. There are many others. Vietnam is famous for its variety of coffee. Fifth, all buses for Ha Long Bay pass by this hotel and pick up / drop off within 100 meters of the hotel door. Uber is easily found, and they know the hotel as well. And of course, should you need Vietnamese Dong, there’s one of the many money changers right opposite the door of the hotel.

Clearly, this area -the old quarter has started getting“touristified” but its up to the visitor to be curious and absorb the culture and sensations. 

The Hanoi skyline

If you stay there, don’t forget to visit the rooftop restaurant. Beautiful airy place, with great views of Hanoi all around (see pictures). Unfortunately, it was simply too cold and windy in December to enjoy the outdoors, but it was nice nevertheless.

View from Tirant roof top of lake 

All said and done, The Tirant was a good choice, great location and for the brief 2 days we were in Hanoi, very enjoyable. 

Airline Flight Review: Vietnam Airlines - Siem Reap to Hanoi

The bridges into Hanoi 

We flew from Siem Reap (at the at time, the old airport , nice, small and neat, and close by from the city) to Hanoi in the evening flight of Vietnam Airlines ( 1950 hours) It was on time, and we landed Hanoi about 2 hours later in a coldish evening ( 2145 hours). 

The aircraft was clean and neat, with the airline coloured seats. Good enough flight. And the timing is such that you get almost the whole day in Siem Reap for sightseeing before you need to head to the airport around 430pm.  While this particular flight was fine, later on in Vietnam, we did have some delays, but nothing that disrupted the plans too much.

Hotel Review: Amber Angkor Hotel & Spa, Siem Reap, Cambodia

We were recommended The Amber Angkor Hotel and Spa by our long-time travel consultant Club7 Holidays. There were plenty of other options, across the city, but we finally settled on this one. It turned out to be a good choice. It was right in the centre of town, a little set back from the road and just near the Wat Bo (temple), and near to the night market, a short tuk tuk ride away.

The hotel itself is quite large, which isn’t immediately visible when seen from the road. Spacious ground floor and a simple enough lift. We had a triple room, which was quite roomy, though the bathroom was a little on the cramped side, but quite ok. The single room we saw was neat but small. You may be hard pressed to put too many bags. 

The one thing I always dislike in hotels is that one needs to climb into and out of bathtubs for bath. That’s not a good idea for older people, or for that matter, any people in wet areas. Fundamentally, I don’t even know how many people really use bathtubs in hotels! But presumably, a lot do, as I have seen bathtubs in hotel bathrooms across the world. Would this be considered a water wastage?

The restaurant was simple and roomy, but the breakfast quality left much to be desired. It simply wasn’t good enough quality, and variety. It gave the impression that a majority of the guests were usually SE Asian or locals- and even the few locals we saw didn’t look very pleased either. This is one area this otherwise nice hotel needs to drastically improve. The quality of breakfast we had in Helsinki, for example, was top notch- prices were more or less the same ( Cambodia is not a cheap destination contrary to beliefs that Asia is cheap).  

Water dispensers are on the ground floor, and you need to go fill bottles yourself. Nothing unusual in this. The rear area that backs onto the Wat Bo road has the swimming pool, quite nice and well frequented. 

The best part was Daniel, the manager of this hotel. Quick, efficient and polite, he arranged all the taxis and tuk tuk that we hired during the stay. His replies on email before we arrived were also comprehensive enough ( he in fact told us in detail of the small circle and grand circle tours, and arranged the taxi and guide as well). Eased any concerns we had quite bit and other wise made the trip far more enjoyable. On the last day in fact, we had to check out by 11am but our flight to Hanoi was around 7pm- Daniel was kind enough to arrange a single room for us to rest in.

All in all, a good stay- recommended as on December 2022. Readers need to go thru the latest reviews and take their own decision.

Itinerary of Cambodia- Vietnam travel

Closing off the Cambodia leg of the Cambodia-Vietnam tour in Dec 2022- Jan 2023, this was our itinerary. 

Our origin and destination was of course, Mumbai; but Singapore is the key hub for many trips to Siem Reap ( Angkor temples) and its quite likely people will end up taking Singapore airlines flights in the morning or evening to Siem Reap (we took the morning one- the one where one of our bags got left behind in Singapore and Singapore Airlines compensated with US$ 100 for the day).

This is the itinerary - the flights may vary but the visit plan per day can still be used by anyone.

 

Travel App Review: " Indian Heritage" - iOS and Android (from The Archaeological Survey of India, Government of India)

App landing page

While reviewing Easemytrip’s analyst call, I came across mention that the company had adopted 4 heritage sites for maintenance under an Archaeological Survey of India program; intrigued, I checked the ASI site, and while going thru it, found that ASI actually had launched an app on iOS and Android called “Indian Heritage” which lists details and photos of the monuments under their charge.

I downloaded it, and this is my review. The app is promoted by the ministry of culture, and at the time of this review, it has 3.5 rating on Play Store. C
ould have changed since this writeup.

First, it’s a great idea to have such an app. There are so many monuments in India dating from a thousand years old! It’s a rich tapestry of great interest to many tourists, if they know about them and can reach them, that is. See how European destinations really go to town with marketing the destinations leveraging apps.  India has a long way to go.

It may not be well known, but the ASI (https://asi.nic.in/) handles a massive number of monuments and continues to handle newer ones found. ASI handles over 3,700 monuments in India, as per September 2023 data, and undertakes overseas work, as was done in Siem Reap, Cambodia on some of the Angkor temples.

App Home Page

This app has three main parts on the home screen (see screenshots). First is the “browse monuments”, then “monuments near you (based on allowing the app to use your location), and third, “upload a new monument”.

The Browse monuments click brings up a grid of monuments ( 2 per row, and many rows- didn’t count) with picture and name. Clicking any one of them takes you onto the page for that monument. On that page are “About”- which has the content about that monument, and two unclickable links – Gallery and Official Notification. Presumably these will be activated later. There is a carousel of pictures, though, so don’t know what exactly the “gallery link” will hold.  

But the interesting thing here are the two other links at the top of each monuments page -Navigate and Locate on Map. Clicking navigate opens up the device map and delivers a path to reach the monument from your current location, and the locate on map puts pin on where the monument is, on a map. Quite interesting and the correct way to do it.

Browse Monuments page

The Monuments around you page opens a map- not the device map, but its own map (I think it may be BHUVAN map because its language and display is quite techy and certainly not designed for a casual audience). On this map are tiny red dots that are the locations of the monuments around your location. Curiously, it was showing quite a large area. Eg, if your location is south Mumbai, it would show more or less all Mumbai (or Mumbai Suburban as it called). That’s nearly a rectangular area of 100km x 50 km. Still, it does show some monuments. Useful for general interest. Clicking on the red dots leads you back to the page that also opens under “browse monuments” and the links described above. That’s fine.

The third page on the app is upload a new monument, and clicking it opens a form to fill- monument name and description. Interestingly, it picks up the GPS co-ordinates from where you are filling the form, so apparently if ever using this page, fill it at the site of the monument, or if from some where else, then you need to know the GPS co-ordinates to fill in (you could get it from Google maps, but cumbersome). But the idea is good. With such a vast country and chaotic in construction, layout and population density, ASI would love to harness the populace to find monuments.

The fourth aspect I found good was the form at the end of each monuments page, where they ask for feedback on your visit. Good idea, and if it works, will help ASI work a lot.

Monuments around you

We don’t know if this app is known much, or is promoted, and what exactly is its end purpose at this point. If ticketing can be added to each monument, that would be great. Then it becomes a useful tourist app; as it stands now, its serves to fulfil a casual curiosity at the various monuments.

The current version on iOS is 2.7.0.

Clunky Navigation

It certainly is on the right track, as far as content and concept goes. But the overall app is very clunky, and less intuitive to use. For example, under the “monuments near you” page, clicking a red dot does bring up a popup, but the fonts are so small that its no use- you must click on “more information” link which opens up the full page; but then navigating back to the map is funny- no back button?

The bottom line

It’s a great app for monuments details and locations. It’s simple and basic, certainly not slick, - some of the photos on home page seem stretched out, but a good base to build on. It urgently needs links to working transport like train schedules, bus routes, or even Uber (which it tries to do via Uber API on device map). And of course, ticketing. One of India’s bug bears is the lack of marketing and information on where to get and how much is the ticketing.  This app can be so good for incredible India – but a long way to go yet.

Business of Tourism : Indian Travel industry poised to boom!

India's second largest Online Travel Agent (OTA), EaseMytrip ( www.easemytrip.com) put out some interesting data points in its investor presentation May 24 2024.  

Source : Easemytrip investor ppt, slide 21, May 24 2025

Briefly, it shows how India , and Indian travelers are set to be key drivers of domestic and international tourism. 

The INR values themselves for the overall travel market are growing well : from INR 27,700crore in 2023Estimated to INR 40,400 crore Estimated in 2027. Within that number, air travel is estimated at 15% growth, on the back of new airports, planes, and generally better affordability. 

The key is the online market, whose spread, availability and convenience has impacts on many industries, not least travel itself which it will facilitate growing. Its expected to go from INR 18500 crore to INR 29800 crore from 2023 to 2027 E. That's massive growth, underlined by hotels, transport, F&B. It also suggests a strategy marketing - almost every travel player has migrated big time from print ( at one time the primary medium for advertising) to digital, since the chain from idea to execution is seamless and information for the same is easily available real time. 

These numbers also show international players like airlines and tourism boards an early glimpse of the future. 

There were 22.6 million Indian Nationals Departures (IND) as per the ministry of tourism, and 98% went by air. These are good numbers for a tourism destination, and the growth of internet, affordability, smart phones and easier visa regimes can only drive more growth.

Interestingly, Easemytrip said in their analyst call on May 24 2024 that they have adopted 4 heritage  landmarks for maintenance under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Adopt a Heritage 2.0 program: The Qutub Minar,  Delhi; The Konark Sun temple, Agra Fort, and Western group of temples in Khajuraho. Totally, these get over 6 mn visitors annually, not a bad OTS ( Opportunity to see), and may be even get business! 

The other aspect they seem to be doing is to train over 1.8 cr didis (women) in rural areas to use the app and book tickets. Even if 10% of these start using it regularly, it will open up a flood of travel bookings. 

Hopefully, the company will follow thru on these, and not just see it as PR; should be interesting to see if they declare progress on these in future investor calls. 

Ignore India at your own peril! 

Bakong Temple : one of the earliest in Angkor

Bakong Temple, Rolous Group

The Bakong temple is the Roulos Group, about 13-14 km from Siem Reap, and is generally covered as part of the day trip of Bantaey Srei (about 30 km away) and the group of temples called Rolous. These temples are the Bakong, Lolei,and Preah Ko and Prasat Prei Monti.

The Bakong is actually  one of the earliest temples made by the Khmer empire, about 1600 years ago (apparently the first temple ever made was Preah Ko, which is also visited as part of this tour).

Bakong temple is a “stepped pyramid” (see picture), and was the state temple of the city of Hariharalaya, established by the first king of Angkor, Jayavarman II. But later the capital of the empire moved to Angkor, leaving this site on the sidelines but not entirely abandoned. 

The temple is a nice, quiet place (when we visited, we were the only people there).This temple was also reconstructed using anastylosis method (as was done in The Baphuon as well, in Angkor Thom).  Don’t miss the lions that guard the entry, and the huge trees around the moat. Climb to the first level ( the stairs are a bit steep, as usual), and check out the elephants and lions at the corners.

The key aspect is the top spire looks like the Angkor temples, while the rest of the temple is a different style. The access road goes almost till the moat, making this temple one of the easier ones to visit by car.

The Rolous Group + Bantaey Srei is a very nice day trip from Siem Reap. The temples are clean and cleared, and its worth just wandering around in the silence and ever-advancing jungle, knowing that its ready to reclaim everything given the chance! These temples are also part of the three day ticket for US$67 per head. 

The Baphuon Temple : inspiring story of skill, persistence and passion!

The Baphuon Temple, Angkor Thom

Just close by to The Bayon, is another interesting temple, the Baphuon. This is just behind the terrace of the elephants and the leper king, and is worth a visit, for its sheer size, and its history. This temple is part of the Small Circle circuit.

The Baphuon is a very old temple, dated by some experts to around 1000 CE (nearly 1400 years old at this point). This temple is a three -tiered temple.  The unique part is not just the scale of the temple, but that it was reconstructed entirely by first dismantling the temple, and then reconstructing it, a process called anastylosis. The workers had labelled all the thousands of parts carefully but had to abandon the work in 1970 during the Khmer Rouge era.

The temple reconstruction was revived from 1996 under Pascal Royere and was widely called the “largest 3 D jigsaw puzzle in the world”. It was finally reconstructed fully in April 2011, after 51 years of work!

The temple has tremendously steep stairs, and not for the weak hearted! When we visited it, there weren’t many tourists. We went to the first level, as the stairs are quite hard to climb. But this temple is worth a visit for the efforts to reconstruct it, for the many people who worked so skillfully and tirelessly to bring it back to life!