This morning we were exhausted, but could hardly stay asleep. We knew what the day had in store for us and we were just itching with excitement (or maybe it was mosquito bites)… Anyway, we woke up around 7am and had a nice complimentary breakfast at our hotel for the long day ahead of us. Our tour guide was scheduled to pick us up between 8 and 8:15am this morning to begin our 12-hour adventure!
We schedule a tour through our hotel, which is definitely recommended as prices at street tour shops far exceed the relational values that hotels have with specific companies. It’s a little nerve-racking leaving it entirely up to your hotel, and I’ve heard it can be hit or miss as there are hundreds of tour companies/boats available and they are definitely not all the same quality. We ended up touring with a company called Wati Travel and it was phenomenal…we could not have asked for more in a day trip.
We were picked up just after 8am and boarded a beautiful air-conditioned bus to begin our 3+ hour drive east to beautiful Ha Long Bay. Our tour guide, Hoan, was incredibly informative and even had a few jokes to throw at us! There was a brief rest stop at what seemed like the tourist trap to rule them all, so we stayed on the bus and waited for everyone else to empty their bladders or buy some memorabilia, and we shipped off once again. Upon arriving in Ha Long Bay, our guide purchased our tickets that would give us entrance to the park as well as any activities we planned on doing (so don’t lose these tickets!).
Once we boarded the boat it was time for an early family-style lunch. It was traditional Vietnamese dishes and the food was fine, but nothing to write home about, so we won’t. After we finished our “10-course meal” we set sail on the Thien Cung (appropriately named after the same cave we would visit later on in the day).
After we set off, Joey and I were the first eager sailors that made it up to the sundeck for views leaving the port and entering into the magnificent bay. We spent time on different parts of the boat snapping pictures, sharing oos and aahs, and just lounging.
After some time sailing around the bay and listening to our informative guide tell us history about the bay and how creative Vietnamese and others alike came up with names for each and every one of the nearly 2,000 islands, it was time for us to choose our first afternoon activity! Kayaking as a duo or sharing a guided bamboo boat with 3-4 others…which would you choose? If you have any experience on the water…any whatsoever…you’re probably like us chose kayaking as a pair. It was amazing and seemed like a bit more personalized than sharing a boat with other groups, especially as you are able to navigate the waters and choose your destination much more freely. We don’t want to knock the shared bamboo boat with at local guide, as it would be great for a party of four or five, but as a solo traveler or pair, it seemed like kayaking was the clear choice…again just our own experience.
We brought our drone with us today because we’re in Ha Long Bay and who wouldn’t, so we asked our guide if we could get some flying time. He was very open and honest about the previous experiences of tourists flying (one even losing it in the water), but promised to give us some time if we would promise to keep it between us, not to abuse that time, nor hold the group up. We took him up on the offer and decided to come back from kayaking a few minutes early to maximize our flight time. We went to the top sundeck and took off to awe-inspiring views of this magnificent set of geological wonders.
After we landed our drone, we went back downstairs to our guide helping the last few passengers onboard. He gave us a thumbs up, we returned on, he smiled, and we were on our way…success! The next stop was Heaven Palace Cave, known locally as Thien Cung. For those of you that have followed us since the beginning (HUGE thank you by the way), you may remember we did a pretty extensive excursion of the longest cave system in the world last year, Mammoth Cave in Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. We truly thought that would be our only limestone cave experience, but limestone is worldwide and these intricate systems can be observed on nearly every continent! And although Mammoth Cave is the longest, Heaven Palace Cave was so incredibly tall, we were overwhelmed by the sheer height of it! Just being inside one island’s cave makes you wonder how many other of the nearly 2,000 limestone karsts have massive open crevasses like this one.
After our guided and informative walkthrough of the cave and hearing about the more imaginative names given to (seemingly) each and every stalagmite and stalactite, we began our journey back to the harbor. Once we docked, we boarded our bus, started the 3+ hour journey back to Hanoi, made the same little pit stop (this time grabbing some snacks and a drink), and were dropped off back at our hotel. Our tour company, and many others, offer longer excursions consisting of 2 day 1 night and 3 day 2 night trips, which would probably be more appropriate for such and extensive and vast set of insular beauty, but we don’t have too much time in Hanoi and wanted a little taste of Ha Long Bay (plus it’s a scorcher in the summer).
By the time we got back (around 8:30pm), we were wiped and rightfully so, as all of this was done in a 12-hour period! We still hadn’t eaten dinner, so we were deciding on the ride back that we would stop quickly at a Jollibee nearby our hotel (if you don’t know what Jollibee is, get yourself a Filipino friend). By the time we actually returned to our hotel I was exhausted, so Joey took one for the team and got us takeout. He arrived back with two pieces of chickenjoy, an order of sweet spaghetti, and a yam filled pastry…solely because the Vietnamese version of Jollibee doesn’t serve halo-halo…Joey even “checked in” on Facebook there just to get access to their Wi-Fi to show them a Google image of Jollibee halo-halo. They looked at him like a crazy person, so he just settled on the purple yam pastry…oh well; they’re seriously missing out.
Tomorrow we’re taking a personalized cooking class through the Duong Restaurant & Cooking Class that specializes in Northern Vietnamese cuisine, so