April 10, 2015

After a couple of days in Hanoi, we are getting out of town to go out onto Ha Long Bay.  We have heard great things about the area, so we decided to make it a 2 day cruise.  It’s also a pretty long bus ride (about 4 hours) out to the bay, so this would be much less rushed than doing it all in a day.

Once we got to the harbor, we took a little tender out to our boat.  We were certainly glad that we chose the boat that we did because some of the ships on the water looked like they could sink at about any time!

 

We got all settled in and had lunch on the boat as it was departing for the cruise.  After about 3 hours of cruising, we got to a fishing village in Ba Long (little dragon) Bay where we went on a kayaking trip.  It was really cool!  Hayden said that he thought they all must be millionaires in Vietnam because they had houses on the water.  We had to explain the difference of having a house on the water for enjoyment and for necessity.  We got to take a nice 45 min trip around a mountain and see different parts of the village.  It was very cool to see.

Unfortunately, it was a little cool and misting outside, but that didn’t stop us from jumping in the water when we got the chance.  It was brisk (to say the least), but the water was warmer than the air, so it wasn’t all that bad.  After that, we got back into the boat and started to get ready for dinner and the party/karaoke night.  We got to dress up in traditional clothes which was fun.

The next morning was another day of sailing around the bay.  We certainly had a nice view to wake up with!

Following another couple of hours of sailing, we got to “Surprising Cave”.  It was discovered a couple of years ago by a student studying geology and turned out to be a huge cave area.  We had fun walking through the cave and pointing out different shapes that we could find inside with the rock formations.

On the way back out of the cave, there were some ladies on boats selling everything from fish to squid to Oreos!  They will actually drive their boats up to the windows of the cruise ships and you can buy stuff out of your window…pretty awesome!

We made it back to the hotel that same evening after returning to the harbor and taking another 4 hour bus ride back.  Next on the agenda is a trip out to Mai Chau Valley to do a homestay in a local village…definitely a cultural experience!