This was it, one of the most eagerly anticipated destinations on our trip, Ha Long Bay.
After an early pick up from the hotel, and a boring 4 hour drive with compulsory stop at an overpriced tourist centre, we made it to the dock in Ha Long City.
The only others from our trip we were sharing with was Sean and Cara, a couple from Corby and a collection of random multi nationals. Once aboard our luxury junk called "Luxury Imperial", we headed into the bay itself and started to see the first of the limestone formations appearing from the haze. After a few more minutes there were thousands of them rising beautifully out of the calm waters. The view was spoilt only by the millions of other boats (or junks) ferrying eager tourists round, just like us!
We visited a place called Surprising Cave and the only real surprise was that it didn't cost extra to get in! No it was actually quite big and pretty and worth a little visit. After that we had a spot of kayaking around some of the islands and exploring some more of the caves. And after a delicious seafood dinner, we relaxed into the evening with some squid fishing and a chill out on our balcony watching the lights of the other boats reflecting off the water. Our fishing didn't quite go as expected but we did manage to scoop out some tiddlers with a net (9 in total) but not a squid in sight!
Our room was fairly spacious with a king size bed and a double monsoon shower so we lived the life of luxury. The next day, after half a fry, we headed out to a place called Lan Ha Bay which actually is much better than its better known neighbour because we didn't see another tourist boat in sight!! Just floating villages and local fishermen.
After a bit of a cruise, and a quick visit to a pearl farm, we landed on our island and moved into our bungalow. This was huge with windows covering 2 walls and only a matter of feet away from the lapping waves on the sand. We had a nice relaxing swim and found our very own island with no one else about. And after a delicious lunch and a kayak we went to Cat Ba island, the largest island in the whole area, and had a bike ride. The scenery was phenomenal and it was actually good to do some exercise again!
And essentially, the rest of our trip, other than football, volleyball and frisbee on the beach, was spent chilling out and doing some more cruising about and even eating a delicious beach BBQ.
The only problem, it was about a week too short.
If you get the chance, go to Ha Long Bay. But better still, go to Lan Ha for absolute peace and quiet in a stunning little cove.
Happy kabisa.
After an early pick up from the hotel, and a boring 4 hour drive with compulsory stop at an overpriced tourist centre, we made it to the dock in Ha Long City.
The only others from our trip we were sharing with was Sean and Cara, a couple from Corby and a collection of random multi nationals. Once aboard our luxury junk called "Luxury Imperial", we headed into the bay itself and started to see the first of the limestone formations appearing from the haze. After a few more minutes there were thousands of them rising beautifully out of the calm waters. The view was spoilt only by the millions of other boats (or junks) ferrying eager tourists round, just like us!
We visited a place called Surprising Cave and the only real surprise was that it didn't cost extra to get in! No it was actually quite big and pretty and worth a little visit. After that we had a spot of kayaking around some of the islands and exploring some more of the caves. And after a delicious seafood dinner, we relaxed into the evening with some squid fishing and a chill out on our balcony watching the lights of the other boats reflecting off the water. Our fishing didn't quite go as expected but we did manage to scoop out some tiddlers with a net (9 in total) but not a squid in sight!
Our room was fairly spacious with a king size bed and a double monsoon shower so we lived the life of luxury. The next day, after half a fry, we headed out to a place called Lan Ha Bay which actually is much better than its better known neighbour because we didn't see another tourist boat in sight!! Just floating villages and local fishermen.
After a bit of a cruise, and a quick visit to a pearl farm, we landed on our island and moved into our bungalow. This was huge with windows covering 2 walls and only a matter of feet away from the lapping waves on the sand. We had a nice relaxing swim and found our very own island with no one else about. And after a delicious lunch and a kayak we went to Cat Ba island, the largest island in the whole area, and had a bike ride. The scenery was phenomenal and it was actually good to do some exercise again!
And essentially, the rest of our trip, other than football, volleyball and frisbee on the beach, was spent chilling out and doing some more cruising about and even eating a delicious beach BBQ.
The only problem, it was about a week too short.
If you get the chance, go to Ha Long Bay. But better still, go to Lan Ha for absolute peace and quiet in a stunning little cove.
Happy kabisa.
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