This morning we woke up bright and early to prepare for a long day. After getting ready I made sure I had packed up all my clothes and toiletries. I missed breakfast trying to get everything together, but I was hopeful for a delicious Vietnamese lunch.
We boarded the bus and left Hanoi for Halong Bay. Halong Bay was about a 4 hour drive. We road on our charter bus and stopped half way at a tourist rest stop. I was able to see many traditional souvenirs for sale that were overpriced. At this point I was starving and bought a can of small Pringles and a Coca Light (the only foods I could recognize). We continued our journey to Halong Bay. Below is a picture of Vietnam. The red star indicates where I will be. See previous posts to see where I have traveled from!
I knew we would be staying in a traditional Junk Boat, but I found very little about the Junk Boat online beforehand. I really wasn’t expecting anything fancy and was hoping it would at least have heat to keep us warm on the water!
I was quite surprised when we pulled up to a small trolley boat that took us out to our Junk Boat. Our boat was huge and the rooms were small but spacious and nice. Everything was very elegant and nice on the ship.
We first had lunch on the boat. Everything was made of seafood. I took ‘thank you bites’ as mom calls them, but I had no desire to take any more than that. The fish was fresh and fishy tasting, something I avoid. I was starving and accepted the fact that I was going to be very hungry all afternoon. I crossed my fingers that dinner would have something more substantial for me to eat.
After lunch we were given an opportunity to take pictures and hang on the boat for about an hour. We then took another trolley boat to a cove nearby. The cove displayed beautiful caves. These caves were so incredible and it was hard to fathom that they had been there for quite some time. The caves have not been open to tourists until recently. There were different lighting in the caves and different structures as well. It was a real treat to see the beautiful caves. Our tour guide also educated me on my new SLR camera. He loved taking pictures as a hobby and helped me learn about some of the settings on my new camera! I was able to take some great pictures.
Next we headed back to the boat. Some people decided to go kayaking around the cove. I decided against that and went with a group of people to a small beach. We climbed to the top of a mountainous structure. The view was spectacular and definitely worth the hike. I decided that Halong Bay is one of the most gorgeous places I have ever seen in the world. It was amazing and every view was a picture perfect view.
Dinner came before we knew it and again the menu consisted of only seafood. I took the same approach as lunch but had little luck. I was so hungry but it seemed like the only food on the ship was seafood! During dinner the staff had elevator music playing through the speakers. We decided to hook up my computer and someone else’s iPod and play American music. It was so much fun. I’m pretty sure our boat was the only boat in the bay jamming out to Justin Bieber and Rascal Flatts. After dinner everyone hung around and talked. There was a karaoke machine that some of my peers took advantage of. Slowly but surely everyone headed off to bed. I was excited about sleeping on the boat because I always sleep well when I am being rocked, whether that is by a boat, train, bus, car, airplane, etc.
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