Halong Bay was a spectacular experience, I obviously loved being back on the water again, and also the islands sticking up everywhere reminded me of Milford Sound in New Zealand, except here the thousands of small islands made the feeling more paradise-esque. We arrived around 12 and quickly boarded our boat (called a Junk Boat). The docking area was absolutely packed with tourists, both Westerners and Vietnamese, boarding identical boats. Halong Bay is the most visited spot in Vietnam.
I felt like a princess getting on the boat because as soon as I walked up the stairs to the seat/dining area, one of the crew members was handing out the wet wash-clothes like they do on long airplane rides. The tables were set for our seafood lunch, which was absolutely delicious. After dining we motored over to the caves, and we got out with our Vietnamese guide to walk around what is called the "Surprise Caves". There were three of them attached to each other, each one bigger than the next, surprisingly bigger in fact...hence the name! The caves were lit up inside, with multicolor lights, which helped to highlight the interesting formations on the walls, and also created a disney-world like feel to the experience.
After the caves we got back on the boat and motored past little floating villages where a number of Vietnamese live on their fishing boats. We then dropped anchor in a bay specifically designated for these tourist boats because it is an area protected from pirates (a very real threat to the area still!). Once we anchored, most of us put on our bathing suits and started jumping off the side of the boat. While the water didn't feel that clean, it was still really fun to float in the Gulf of Tonkin around such stunning landscape. We had diving contests off the side and floated around the boat for the whole rest of the afternoon. That night we had another delicious seafood dinner, drinks and played cards until about midnight.
The next morning we got back to the docking area around 9 and got in vans to begin the 4 hour drive to Hanoi.
I felt like a princess getting on the boat because as soon as I walked up the stairs to the seat/dining area, one of the crew members was handing out the wet wash-clothes like they do on long airplane rides. The tables were set for our seafood lunch, which was absolutely delicious. After dining we motored over to the caves, and we got out with our Vietnamese guide to walk around what is called the "Surprise Caves". There were three of them attached to each other, each one bigger than the next, surprisingly bigger in fact...hence the name! The caves were lit up inside, with multicolor lights, which helped to highlight the interesting formations on the walls, and also created a disney-world like feel to the experience.
After the caves we got back on the boat and motored past little floating villages where a number of Vietnamese live on their fishing boats. We then dropped anchor in a bay specifically designated for these tourist boats because it is an area protected from pirates (a very real threat to the area still!). Once we anchored, most of us put on our bathing suits and started jumping off the side of the boat. While the water didn't feel that clean, it was still really fun to float in the Gulf of Tonkin around such stunning landscape. We had diving contests off the side and floated around the boat for the whole rest of the afternoon. That night we had another delicious seafood dinner, drinks and played cards until about midnight.
The next morning we got back to the docking area around 9 and got in vans to begin the 4 hour drive to Hanoi.
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