La Han was Fun, u get the pun?

Today: Boat trip to Lan Ha Bay.
We weren’t entirely sure if we wanted to visit the area because we’d heard it was overly touristy, crowded, and that the water was quite dirty. But some Dutch travelers we met on the Ha Giang Loop had recommended a specific tour—so we thought, why not give it a try? If you never try, you’ll never know.
And honestly, I learned that you should always see things for yourself instead of blindly trusting what you hear or read—because oh my god, the trip was amazing from start to finish.
Our group was small—just 11 people—and everyone was super friendly, relaxed, outgoing, and interesting to talk to. Our two guides, Tyler and Hannah, along with the bartender Toni, were absolutely lovely.
We started by cruising through Lan Ha Bay, and it felt like a scene straight out of The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio (watch it if you haven’t!). No other tourist boats in sight—just us on a beautiful little wooden yacht.
Toni soon offered to make cocktails. While most of the group saw that as the perfect excuse to start day drinking, I opted for a fresh mango-passionfruit smoothie, made right on the spot—and it was delicious.
Our first stop was kayaking through a cave that led to a peaceful lagoon. They gave us one-size-fits-all life jackets, which for me meant way too big. I looked like I needed a life jacket just to survive in that life jacket.
The kayaking was pretty relaxing on my end—Jasper had some energy to burn and paddled like a champion, so I basically just lifted my feet and enjoyed the view.
Back on the boat, we were served lunch and later stopped for a swim in another quiet lagoon. Once again, we were the only boat there, and it just felt incredible.
In the afternoon, we visited what they called a sanctuary for groupers—an endemic fish species. But we’re pretty sure it was actually just a fish farm set up for tourists—sanctuary just sounds better than farm, I guess. Still, we got to see some massive fish and even pet them. We got a liiiitttleeeee tiny sunburn, but lisa (clearly the mom for this trip) of course had aloe vera back at the hostel:)
In the evening, I was once again grateful to be traveling with Jasper. I couldn’t decide what to eat—fried rice, pad Thai, or salad—so I ordered all three, took a mini portion from each, and passed the rest to Jasper, who devoured it all without hesitation.
Later, we went for drinks in Cat Ba Town with the people we’d met on the boat, chatted to them, hot recommendations for our next stops and then caught a moto-taxi back to the hostel. Another truly amazing day.Leia mais