Full Moon in Halong Bay – A Must on Your Bucket List

Autumn is approaching, making the weather much more “easy-breezy”. One of the most exciting events happens to fall this month: Mid-Autumn Festival when you can spend more quality moments with your family. Allow yourself time in a more premium situation, like on a cruise, while still being with your loved ones.

Full Moon means Reunion, Moon-gazing, and Lantern celebration

In Asia, Mid-Autumn Festival is generally considered as showing appreciation to the greatest harvest of the year. Furthermore, it is deemed to be spending time with family along with many fun activities while gazing at the Full Moon in its brightest form. The festival is dependent on the Lunar Calendar, which is based on the revolving of the Moon around the Earth.

It is said the Mid-Autumn has officially been in Vietnam since 1121 by the Ly Dynasty. To celebrate the festival, many rowing and water puppet competitions were encouraged to brighten up the atmosphere. People would join together to sing, dance, and pray for a new thriving harvest season. 

The Full Moon occurs monthly, yet it is only in the roundest and brightest form on 15th August, according to Lunar Calendar, and synchronizes with the largest harvesting season. Therefore, the Vietnamese often prepare double feasts for this special occasion. During the day, people set up the praying table to worship the ancestor, which is similar to other full moon days. And another feast is presented in the evening to demonstrate gratitude to the Moon.

Instead of celebrating this day with your family at home, change it up a little bit for a more thrilling experience for everyone and take a  fresh perspective on the festival. Bhaya Cruises can promise to bring Vietnam’s most precious tradition while delivering a high-class service to you. Temporarily leaving the urban’s chaotic crowd, you can now join in the more exclusive trip designed meticulously for this special juncture, and witness the Moon’s true beauty – happening only once a year.

Gazing at the Moon Goddess, In Awe of Halong Bay by Night  

The Full Moon Cruise in Halong Bay will be perfect to cross off this bucket-list activity. The regular day-time itinerary of three-day two-night tour is applied for this holiday, including a visit to Cua Van Fishermen Village, one of the world’s most beautiful small towns, on the first day; immerse yourself in the tranquil Viet Hai Village or indulge in the fresh emerald waters of Trinh Nu (Virgin) Beach; and surprise yourself with Sung Sot (Surprise) Cave’s grand on the following days.

For a quieter day,  relax on the sundeck in the afternoon. Then, any passenger who cruises with The Au Co in September will be offered a special MasterChef edition onboard. You can join in making the traditional white sticky rice moon cake (bánh dẻo), which is one of the moon cake duos. 

In the evening of the first night, take part in creating your own sustainable star lantern! The star lantern is one of the Mid-Autumn signatures in Vietnam, it is the soul of children, reflecting fun and positivity. The traditional star lantern usually requires plastic to make, but the Au Co’s version of the star lantern is simple, paper-made only, and just as beautiful. This will be a great interactive DIY session for all passengers to spend more quality time with their families.

A BBQ dinner party created by our renowned chefs will be served on the second night. Decorated with some Mid-Autumn Festival ambiance, you will see the freshest and most vibrant fruits shaped in different animals on the table, and of course moon cakes! 

Being the highlight of the trip, Moon-gazing on the deck will be an unforgettable experience because the urban skyscrapers somehow erase the chance to fully see how bright the true Full Moon is. The origin of this action was to predict the upcoming harvest season and the nation’s upcoming economy. If the Moon was bright and yellow, it meant business would do well in the upcoming year. If the Moon was blue or green, a year of disaster and unfortunate events would be waiting ahead. However, if the Moon was bright and golden, it announced the country would thrive. 

When adoring the beauty of the Moon in the vast Nature of Halong Bay, you can also look the opposite way to the mainland and see lights from there as beautiful as a galaxy from afar. Isn’t it the best of both worlds to be able to witness the beauty made by Nature and Manpower at the same time?