Ha Long, Hong Kong and Manila

NSun · Sunday at 7:02 PM

It's time for another report. I wanted to return to Hong Kong for the first time since mid-2018 after Christmas and managed to get QF reward seats...well, only to Manila in J on the way over. So I thought I might as wells visit Manila. That was booked back in February. But since then, I ended having to go to northern Vietnam for work and although it was mostly for work, I had a day to myself to go see Ha Long Bay. I decided to merge these two trip reports in one thread, discussing Ha Long first and then the Manila/Hong Kong trip.

So for Vietnam, I had to go in Jetstar Y sadly, but managed to go Thai Y on the way back to have a daytime flight back. Flights were unmemorable except on the Thai flight where I thought I left my phone at the gate and ran back out of the plane to check the gate area, only to not find it there but find it had slid out of my pocket under my seat. But at least with Jetstar, I got to go via Melbourne and visit the F lounge there. As a Sydneysider, I actually prefer the Melbourne lounge because it really feels exclusive and not like a zoo.

I forget the name of this dessert but it is probably the best I've had in all my years as a WP. Banana ice cream on the top, banana slices and chocolate sauce on the bottom, and vanilla ice cream in between.

Flew Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh City, then Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi the next day with Vietjet. My hotel in Hanoi was the Luxe Paradise Premium Hotel that was 3.8m dong or A$240 for 3 nights all up. Great value for money

NSun · Sunday at 7:08 PM

It was a very long day to go to Ha Long Bay, I was picked up at 7am and 'dropped off' at 9pm - more on that at the end. I was the first to be picked up and spent an hour seeing everyone else on the bus get picked up. We were driven out to a kind of terminal where you get off one bus and go on to another, and there's a pearl shop. Here's a map of Ha Long Bay - it is actually several hundred islands and we only got to see a few dozen or so throughout the day.

We stopped for half an hour there, then driven 10 minutes to our boat.

We were all seated at tables to eat as we got underway. I was seated with an Indian family from Kolkata. The food was hardly Michelin quality, but there was a lot of quantity.

By the time we got underway it was 12pm and we'd be on the water for about 6 hours.

The boat had a top deck where most hung out after lunch, but also a smaller deck at the back.

NSun · Sunday at 7:12 PM

Our first stop was at Ti Top Island. We were told we had 40 minutes to either climb stairs to the top of the island or go on a swim - I chose the former.

Made it to the top.

NSun · Sunday at 9:40 PM

The next stop would be a sort of deck where we could get on a speed boat or get into our own canoe. It took about 40 minutes to get there.

NSun · Sunday at 9:42 PM

Once there, we were on the speedboat within a few minutes.

If I went back again, I would do the canoeing. If I had to do the speedboat again, I wouldn't bring my passport in my pocket because I spent the ride half-scared we'd flip and my passport would be damaged.

NSun · Sunday at 9:48 PM

Then it was back to the boat and onto our third stop 'Sung Sot Cave'. It was another island where we walked all the way along a set path through a number of caves, and our boat moved to meet us at the other end. This was the most touristy of all the stops today.

This is after the view after climbing the first set of stairs, seeing where we were dropped off.

Looking in the other direction, hopefully you get the idea of where we are headed and what we will see.

NSun · Sunday at 9:50 PM

Light at the end of the tunnel.

And on the way back to the port where we'd get on the bus back to Hanoi.

NSun · Monday at 12:16 PM

From there, it was another 3 hours to Hanoi. When I was told I'd be dropped off last I just hopped off the bus and walked back to my hotel. I got back in half an hour. I went via the Hanoi Train Street. It was built in 1902 and I understand still has trains go down it a couple of times a day.

NSun · 2024-12-31T11:46:52+1100

Not much else to report from that Vietnam trip. Now let's jump ahead to Boxing Day - Sydney to Manila.

The start of the trip was soured by just missing out on red PJs at the front desk of the F lounge. I forgot to ask for them, then remembered when I saw someone walking away with them. The desk only had the grey Christmas ones left. Ah well.

The inbound aircraft waited 40 minutes to find a gate, so anticipating a wait I had a buffalo mozarella.

VH-QPJ 'Port Stephens'. The first Qantas aircraft to wear the current livery introduced in 2016. Was the first international flight I'd been on where they did group boarding. The aircraft was still decorated for Christmas on the inside. CSM Joseph was nice - I asked him if he had any tips for Manila, and he got the CSS from economy to come up (within a few minutes of asking) and give my some tips, apparently he knew Manila better. A good flight route including a view of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race and Charleville in Queensland. Charleville was actually where the first Qantas flight took off from in 1922.

Gin & tonic and nuts to start. Followed by dumplings, steak and panna cotta (my favourite). I think olive oil is quite a 'plain' choice for panna cotta (compared to blueberry for instance like I had on the flight to BLR in July), but at least the rest of it was good.

The pre-arrival 'snack' was disappointing as the portion was small and it was either this (noodles) or 'spanikopta'. I don't eat non-deep fried seafood so had to take the prawns out so wasn't much at all. I had thought Qantas bought back full meals pre-landing, although I heard on Facebook that Manila was an exemption along with Denpasar and Jakarta. Fair enough for Denpasar or even Jakarta...but Manila is just as long as Singapore.

NSun · 2024-12-31T11:51:58+1100

Good views coming into Manila.

On the way to the gate we passed Lufthansa Technik's hangars. I saw a Lufthansa A380 - D-AIMM - in there having a C-check (which it would leave a few days later). I also saw a BA A380 there, but you can't see it in the picture. I think Qantas got their A380s serviced there at one point and switched to Abu Dhabi around the time the fleet got repainted in 2018-19. They still get A330s serviced there. I can understand that it doesn't make sense to build hangars for only a dozen or so A380s in Australia, although Lufthansa and BA appear to have gotten all their A380s back into service (8 and 12).

NSun · 2024-12-31T12:10:27+1100

It was only a couple of minutes walk to immigration but it was a 30 minute wait as there were only a few staff. Australians can enter Manila visa-free but have to complete a kind of digital declaration. I was caught out by not entering my middle name in my declaration when I have a name on my passport. The officer took pity on my and told me to update it later. I genuinely tried to later on but couldn't figure it out. Oh well.

I was staying at the Newport Holiday Inn. It is part of a mini suburb right across the highway from the airport - you can walk to it via an aerobridge. Then there's a shopping centre and casino, as well as a few chain hotels including a Sheraton and Hilton.

Christmas decorations were still up at the hotel and in most places. I'm guessing there's something about the colour blue and Christmas with the Philippines.

My hotel room. Did the job - great to have a proper shower in the bathroom and adaptable outlets.

There was no pool but a gym - was basic, yet at least it was 24/7.

Plan for tomorrow was to make my way through Manila using Grab.

NSun · 2025-01-01T11:04:37+1100

I went on a self-guided tour of the city the next day. I first went to Bonifacio Global City, which is a CBD in its own right and major shopping hub. I walked around for a bit, then sat down for lunch.

It appears this was being prepared for some NYE parade.

Had lunch at Shi Lin - a Taiwanese focused place. Dumplings, fried chicken and rice.

NSun · 2025-01-01T11:08:06+1100

I then walked to Makati, which took an hour (more than it should've as I struggled to find a place to cross a major highway). One of the first things I saw was an Emirates shop. Look inside and you'll see Emirates products.

To cool off I had a peppermint mocha from Starbucks.

NSun · 2025-01-01T11:14:14+1100

I caught a Grab to the centre of town, getting out near Rizal Park. It is named after Jose Rizal who in 1896 was executed for insurrection against Spain. The country's declaration of independence from the USA happened there in 1946 and many famous political rallies took place there too.

The place everyone wants to see is Fort Santiago. I didn't go in as I didn't have cash so this was as close as I got.

Walked into the Catholic cathedral at the same time there was a wedding on - so we could only watch from the back.

NSun · 2025-01-01T11:19:26+1100

Last stop of the day was Pasig River Esplanade. This part only opened last year and is planned to by 25km long eventually. A good selfie spot, a few stalls and even some street cats.