Halong Bay

Today i am off to halong bay. Transportation there was supposed to be easy. Anything but. Booked a grab taxi which i was told would take 2 hours so i left at 8:30 and needed to be at cruise port by 12 sharp. 1/4 of the way there my driver realizes his address given is in hanoi for some halong bay company. So me and him and grab company had a bit of a disagreement on the new price which now jumped from $50 to $100. 30 mins later we were back on the road but time was becoming an issue.

Arrived at cruise port terminal at 12. Ran in and the person i talked to said I'm at the wrong terminal. Got her to call my ship and they said i had 15 mins to get there. I asked how long it would take to drive there and they said 15 mins lol. I ran out found a taxi stand and all the drivers were perplexed on the address i handed them. One seemed to have an idea so off we went. Arrived at 12:30 and luckily they held up the boat for me. Phew.

As soon as i got on the boat i was adopted by a british family to join them for lunch which was nice. Also met a nice couple from san diego who just got married in thailand and another person from NYC.

When i booked this cruise, i had no idea how luxurious it would be. My room is huge and gorgeously decorated. I even have jacuzzi tub. There are menus on the tables for each meal but you don't pick what you want - they just bring you everything on it. Impossible to eat every dish they bring and sooo good. There are only 24 passengers, but 30+ staff so the service was awesome. And they had all our names memorized.

The rock formations are very similar to what i saw in Tam Coc, but being in the ocean made them all the more striking. Shortly after lunch we dropped anchor and kayaked around some of the giant rocks. The water was incredibly warm just like in da nang. Amazing. Followed by supper under the stars and an early night as everything shut down around 10. Its impossible to put into words how beautiful halong bay is, but lets just say it held up to my lofty expectations as the trip's highlight (so far).Read more