Jeff and I have been talking about going to Halong Bay since we lived in Thailand, so when I asked him for his "must do" Vietnam activity, he picked Halong Bay. Since it involved boats and being on the water, I figured it would be a win for the whole family.
I booked a full day cruise that included lunch, snacks, and a transfer to and from the port. We started off with a fairly reasonable pick up time. We had a nice van, and we made a bathroom stop before getting to the pier.
I love the "street scenes" in Hanoi, and Jeff obliged me by snapping a picture of the lady riding her bike in front of us.
Our ship had three levels, two for eating, and then a top deck for viewing. There were at least 20 other very similar boats with us for the entire day, so I took a picture to make sure we would have the correct name and number when we got back on from our stops.
First up though was drinks and an early lunch. Jeff continued his tradition of trying the local beer in every country we go to.
The tables were for 6 people, so the four of us were closer to the window, and then an Australian couple sat on the end. The girls, of course, claimed the window seats.
Elena said she had to have a coke for energy, and she definitely got a little windblown exploring our surroundings.
Jeff and Viv walked up all the decks to explore.
When we got to our first stop, we had to go up quite a few stairs to get to a cave entrance. The long legged ones got to the top first and took a picture while waiting for us.
The inside of the cave was huge and lots of fun to explore. We had a guide who told us a bit about the history of discovering the cave and pointed out interesting formations.
To me though, the best parts were the views from up high when we were outside of the cave.
We got back on the boat and went to our next stop. We had the option to pay extra for a speed boat ride. We figured the girls would enjoy it, and it wasn't too much more, so we signed up for that. We were really glad we did, because it was one of everyone's favorite activities for the day.
We got to go out among the karsts, and the driver pointed out things like the rock formation that looks like a woman.
The best part though, was that he went really fast and did donuts and other tricks. There were several kids on the boat, and the joyful squealing definitely egged him on. He did slow down though to let us appreciate the scenery.
When we got back to the dock, we went on a slower type of boat ride. This one went into a "lake" in the middle of one of the karsts.
It was lovely.
Our final stop for the day was a beach. Jeff and Vivian found a place to sit and read, and I took Elena hunting for shells. We didn't have bathing suits, but that was okay, because the water was quite chilly.
We had a lot of fun and found some good shells.
The sun set as we sailed back, and Jeff took about a hundred sunset photos.
We got back to the port and back in our van for the trip back to Hanoi. This was the road we needed to drive down to get back to our friends' house. Somehow it worked. Vietnam is definitely a unique and special place.
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