11:11 PM(Day 1) Driving in to Halong bay we had a little rain, but that just made for some seriously awesome clouds once we got to the bay. I took so many photos, this place is ridiculously amazing!
We were welcomed on board with fresh fruit juice, which is the custom here, then given the run down as to how our day would look. We were assigned a cabin, which seemed a little small, but the bathroom tiles were super tidy, the window stretched the whole way across the room, and it was clean, fresh and nice looking with wood panels. Very classy as we say in the Daniel Clan. :)
Lunch was no lie-9 courses! Yummy seafood and stir fries and rice. Ryan wouldn't shut up about the crab cakes (actually served in the crab shell). I could barely finish lunch before I grabbed my camera and headed out on the deck. Our tour guide showed me the rock formation that was on the 2000 dong bill. I held it up for a contrast picture. All the rock formations have names, usually loosely based o the shapes they take. We headed up to the main deck and took pictures for awhile. We also made friends with a British couple, and another couple from Toronto named Carol and Dale. We liked them a lot! Hit it right off and spent time chatting and ogling the scenery. Huge mountains of limestone jutted out around us while we talked about our transient lives at the moment.
We boarded a smaller boat in the afternoon and our tour guide took us up many steps to visit Amazing cave and it was actually amazing. I will never forget the name, mostly because our guide said it a billion times. But, it was actually very cool. Don't know if words will explain how cool it was. Saw lots of interesting rock formations there.
Had a nap, watched the sunset from the roof, took a cooking class (well, we rolled a spring roll), and even sang some karaoke before we settled in for the night. Well, at least me. Ryan was asleep at 9!
4:07 PM (Day two) of Halong Bay (before the nap!) What an awesome day! Thank god we booked the three day/two night trip. It's simply amazing here. So breathtaking!
We had a delicious 11(!!!???) course meal last night followed by an asinine attempt at squid fishing, then a little karaoke. One of the best parts of the night was sitting up on the roof deck alone and taking pictures of the sunset peeking through the karsts. So relaxing. This place of beauty and serenity really is relaxing and calming. A nice break from our fast paced trip.
Today we had a yummy egg and toast breakfast after I got up early for Thai Chi on the roof at 6:30! Haha. I'm so not graceful, but the scenery was a beauty! We got on a different day boat for the day and set of to pick up a few more travelers from other boats. Turns out some of them were actually being transferred to our boat for tonight, so yay, new friends! We met brothers and their girlfriend/wife from Canada, and an aussie guy and his Vietnamese girl friend (whom he treats very badly, but thinks it's funny and cute, but it's actually disturbing.) Anyway, the rest if the people were lovely.
We sailed for a bit around the bays, but stopped in a more secluded area to take out some kayaks. It was amazing!!! The scenery, the rocks jutting strait up from the water, the calm green around us, nothing but the sounds of our paddles, the bugs humming in the mountain brush and our occasional echoes of laughter and "Ahhhh"s just to hear ourselves. We paddled through several tiny caves, each time reaching more and more secluded areas. We had to take care and paddle around the water that would drip down from the limestone. One cave had quite large stalagmites that we had to duck under in order to reach a tiny lake. It was so picturesque that we actually HAD to have another couple take our picture.
We got back to the boat and sunned ourselves on the deck before we arrived at the most beautiful bay with tiny strips of sand at some of the bases of the rock.
Our fun for the afternoon was probably a highlight of my trip to Vietnam overall: jumping off the top floor of the boat in Halong Bay- unforgettable. The setting was astounding, the sun was shining, lunch had been perfectly done shrimp and fish, stir fried veggies and rice, and of course, dragon fruit for dessert. Heaven. We took pictures of all of us jumping from the top, we swam to one of the little beaches, keeping a keen eye out for jellyfish. The beach was pure white, the rocks coming right down to a small stretch of sand. We investigated a few books and crannies in the rock, but the sand was a little squishy and we didn't know what was lying beneath, so after I found a purple shell, we swam around in the shallows, talking and wondering what the sign said in Vietnamese, wondering where the Aussie guy had gotten off to when he cam around a bend- he'd swam through a little cave/hole in the rocks! A lady in a boat selling all sorts of snacks rowed over to us, hounding us to buy her wares, at one point, even holding up a bottle of vodka, as if any of us would jump up out of the water and pay for it on the spot! So crazy!
We swan back to our boat and jumped off several more times, floating around after each jump in the super salty water, working on amazing sunburns, just taking in all the rock, water, and sun scene around us. Amazing.
We called it a day when we saw a little jellyfish, nothing near the size of ones we'd seen in other parts of the bay, but that rounded up our day of fun in the sun and surf. We cruised back to our boat simply baking in the afternoon sun, past a floating fishing village and stopping once to check out a pearl farm. The lady planting tiny pieces of shell in the oyster shells was interesting. Of course, they all hoped we would buy, and we all took pictures and hoped they would t harass us too much. It was nice to see, and as the sun got lower, it got a little cooler. I spent the last part of the trip on the first floor under a fan with the shades drawn (you can only have so much sun!) looking through my pictures of the day, which there were a ton. People of New York, New Jersey, Michigan and Chicago- ready yourselves for a picture slide of a lifetime! Begin making popcorn now. Maybe you might want to bring your sleeping bag too! :)
We are comfortably back on the boat, after showers and a rest. I grabbed a cocktail and sitting rooftop, regaling the days events lest I ever forget a moment!! I keep thinking "I'm gonna dream of this moment in the future...I'm gonna want be right back where I am living this moment."But for the moment, I am content watching the sunset clouds and listening to the sounds of the bay around me. Dinner (another amazing 11 course sure!)is coming, and then my day of amazing memories will be complete! I love it here.
And now the present: we are back in Hanoi, a little sad actually, because this means our 3 weeks in Vietnam is up, we move on to Thailand tomorrow. It's been so amazing here. It's like every emotion all rolled in to one. It's crazy, noisy, big, small, charming, yummy, thoughtful, awesome, alarming, calming and totally unforgettable. I feel like we've seen so much here, and I've learned a lot, thought about my Uncle Steve a lot, experienced many new foods and really come to realize that holding on to your national identity is something very amazing. The conical hats don't seem as funny anymore, although I I still think they are cute. I think more now, they represent a country that has embraced their way of life, and an iconic part of their dress is also still very functional. It makes me think, not much has changed here over time, well, yes and no. The culture has lasted thousands of years. How amazing, and inspiring really. I come from a culture of constant change. The world is getting bigger and smaller all at the same time, but things in Vietnam, while modernizing and growing to promote tourism, has shown me something about longevity in culture, and holding on to the things that might be ancient, but still work every day.
Wow... Just, wow. I will definitely want to be in a sleeping bag and ready with popcorn to see more photos when you guys get back. :) Have fun in Thailand!
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