Halong Bay

June 12

Unfortunately, our overnight train arrived on the dot at 4:15am. (I am writing this on June 23, so I don't know how well I will be able to remember everything. Sorry I'm so behind. It's just 3 posts and the rest are written. Unfortunately, it is 3 posts in the middle of the trip... And I'm not having an easy time catching up and keeping up!) We then met our guide and loaded onto a bus to make the 4 hour trip from Hanoi to Halong Bay.

Halong Bay is supposed to be stunningly beautiful. It is a series of around 1,969 limestone islands. You just hear everyone rave about it and talk about how beautiful it is. I was so excited to go.

When we arrived at the hotel around 9am we had to wait for our rooms because they were not yet ready. As always, we paid for the breakfast buffet and spent our time eating and surfing the Internet.

When our rooms were ready, Kat and I were rooming together, we went up. The rooms were really nice actually and there was an amazing view overlooking the beach front and you could see some islands rising from the water. Kat and I had a really good chat. It's really nice when you can sit down with someone and just talk about things. It's kinda like I'm back at home with my good friends chillin.

After a good hour or two break, we met the group downstairs at 11:30am to head to our boat trip. Even though we were on the beach we had to drive for about 20 minutes to get to the actual pier we were departing from. When we arrived there there were magnificent boats lining the dock. We boarded one named Halong Dream.

The islands really are pretty amazing. It's breath taking actually when you first see it. I couldn't stop taking pictures. It's so cool. And there are all these different islands closer and further away. The sky is painted in layers. It kind of looks like you are having double vision or having trouble focusing your eyes because there are so many and you can't tell which ones are which and they are all separate but run together. That is probably a horrible description but I really have no idea how else to describe it. They are a mixture of dark and light stone but there are green plants growing on them as well. You can see parts toward the bottom of the stone/near the water where the stone has been weathered away more. It's like it has been squeezed in around the bottom.

Within the first 10 minutes of being on the boat we were served lunch. It was amazon food. We had fresh crab cakes served in a crab shell, fresh shrimp (fully intact), fresh calamari (not as fried as it is at home), fresh fish (I don't remember what kind now but Kat did a pretty spectacular job of deboning that bad boy), some rice, and some spring rolls. We were also served a plate of fries to share which surprised me. The food was all really fresh and tasted amazing.

We stopped the boat and released the anchor in one area. We were all able to get off and kayak around the islands which I was pumped about. All the kayaks were 2 person kayaks and Robyn and Courtney were already going together which meant I would have to go with someone who hasn't kayaked before. I didn't care too much. I teamed up with Kat and for not kayaking she was actually pretty good at it! I took the back so I could steer us. We got in and out of the kayak from a floating dock and 2 men held the kayak steady so we didn't flip it.

We got to kayak around the islands and inside caves. The caves weren't closed, but there were small areas where the rocks had opened up so you could kayak through into a smaller bay like area. It was gorgeous. It was so cool to have these huge islands towering over you. It was a really different view point being on the water in a kayak than being on the water in a boat. I think I actually preferred the kayak experience. It just seemed much more real when you could get up close to them and from the boat it was like a dream floating through this really picturesque land.

There are some people who live out there on floating boats. Or at least I think they live there. There were a lot of dogs. None of the dogs swam that we saw. They just sat there and barked at us. Each house was really colorful and had at least one boat. Many locals were fishing. There was a lady bathing herself. She was literally naked on the back of her boat with her dog. She was in a rather unfortunate place to be naked though. Since most of the group didn't know how to kayak, we had some bumper boat issues. Anndd this was one of the times. We had to squeeze between this ladies boat and some rocks from a nearby island. There was a kayak jam with 4 of our kayaks and this lady was just bathing right there. She didn't seem to care but Andy was all about it. He was yelling out to people to take her photo and that she was naked. I really hope she doesn't understand English. It was comical to say the least.

We also each had a chance to kayak through a little tiny opening in one of the islands. This island is pictured on the back of the 200,000 dong. I don't know if it has a name or not. The hole looks pretty manageable but as you get closer you realize how small it actually is. It's so small that its hard to kayak while you're inside it. Kat and I did a pretty good job going through it though compared to some of the other pairs we saw go through. We only hit the side with our paddles a few times. Many people got stuck in there.

After kayaking (lots of racing, splash fights... mostly between Ed and Kat, laughing, etc.) we boarded the boat again and we saw the kissing rocks... a rock formation that is a famous representation for Halong Bay. It is 2 rocks with a small space between them and it is kind of triangular shaped as a whole.

We also went to the Dong Thien Cung caves. These caves are supposed to be the most beautiful (but I'm not sure if its in Vietnam or Halong Bay). I also think it translates to something about the Heaven Cave. The cave is pretty big. There is a lot of it to walk through. We had to climb a lot if stairs to get to the cave entrance and then there were stairs within the cave as well as to leave the cave. The cave is all lit up with different colored lights and that displays the rock formations rather well. There is also an area where there is an opening to the outside. The way the light enters the hole is amazing. It's pretty much how you picture heaven with the streams of white light coming in. A lot of people said that they thought the colored lights took away from the caves natural beauty and made it seem touristy. (I didn't really agree with this until after we were in the cave while trekking in Vang Vieng).

After the caves, and a lot of pictures (Ed had a butterfly land on his finger when posing for a photo), we headed back to the junk boat. We spent the time on the way back on the top of the boat sun bathing, taking photos, and soaking in the stunning views. Seriously, so amazing.

We got back to the hotel and Kat and I had another nice chat. A big group of us met for drinks to see the sunset at 6pm. We wanted to find a rooftop bar and Al had looked up a place that wasn't too far away according to google maps. We set off (Ed, Kara, Sarah, Lois, Charley, Al, Leanne, Kat, Saskia, Mars, and I) to find it.

We didn't make it too far... We knew it was at a 4 star hotel so we went to the closest, nicest looking hotel near us. They didn't have a rooftop bar. And the bar we were looking for was a 10 minute drive down the road. So, we changed plans and went to sit on the beach and drink a cocktail. Drinks seemed tense. Leanne noticed it too. But of course, Mars was there ordering ribs for a predinner snack. She was starving and put the order in right away but didn't end up ever getting them. My cocktail was strange. It was yogurt like and had little jello squares in it. It was pretty good though.

We were meeting for dinner as a group and we wandered off to find Matt. He was sipping a beer on the side of the road in a restaurant. He told us all the prices had gone up a lot and the pizza place may be our cheapest option. We walked up the street to see if we could agree on a place and just ended up settling on the pizza. I sat by Courtney, Robyn, and Ed and Ed was trying to bet Courtney in Laotian kip but Courtney didn't know the exchange rate so it was pretty funny. Ed offered 1 million kip which is around 125,000$ and Courtney refused... To be fair though, in Vietnam that would only be $50.

After dinner I went back to the hotel with Courtney and Robyn and we just chilled in the room. They're really sweet girls and its fun to talk to them. It's nice to have them around as well since we are literally surrounded by British people. I think it will be nice to get a few new people although I am sad to see certain people leave. The group dynamics aren't as great as they were for the Cambodia trip.

Overall, Halong Bay is beautiful. The streets of the town are really touristy though. Prices are a bit higher too which isn't my favorite.