Mid 80’ to late 1991 – The Eastern block was going through a politically unstable period and finally came to an end. Cruise Halong bay

– Mid 80’ to late 1991 – The Eastern block was going through a politically unstable period and finally came to an end. Cruise Halong bay was given back exclusively to the Vietnamese weekend beach vacationers who loved to gather with their families and make full use of the opportunity that the State’s generosity had rewarded them and their families with the summer trip. Though annually, they had to be hard working during the year to count their turn in.

  – Early 1992 to 1996 – This was a turning point for Vietnam as a whole and for my hometown in
particular. Private economic sector was accepted, a modest number of young back-packers set their foot in Vietnam and cruise Halong Bay seemed to be a “must” in their discovery trip. Mentioning this, I don’t mean to discriminate against the senior (but young at heart) travelers. However, sometimes, I believe that if the modern day Halong authorities would consider paying tribute for the development of this tourism industry, some of those fellow back-packers should be the most deserving nominees as their good word of mouth greatly helped. Soon after, some capitalist-oriented locals gradually set their first stone in new businesses and the very first operation was to arrange boat cruises out into the Bay. You could never imagine how little functional the boats were; small converted fishing boats, two long benches along the sides and crippling tables that ran in between, no windows, open sides and no food was available or could only be catered if you ordered way long in advance. Sometimes the boat would have mechanical problems and stop in the middle of the Bay. The captain, who also served as a mechanic, had to leave his steering wheel for a while to fix the problem down in the machine compartment. Whoops, what a scary thing! Late 1996 was the time that rooted my current profession as services provider. Back then, a tour guide who could speak English to group of travelers on board was often needed; I played several roles as cook’s assistant, captain’s assistant and, sometimes, all three in one. We were all wet behind the ears in the industry at that time but we had a great love and passion for our job.
Access website: http://www.halongjunkcruise.com/halong-bay/