Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

After a few days in hectic Hanoi it was nice to escape the city to see some of Vietnam's beauty. We booked a 2 day 1 night tour to Ha Long Bay. It took a while to get there which included a 2 hour bus ride from Hanoi to get to a speedboat that took us to the bigger boat we cruised the bay in.

The limestone karst formations make up around 2,000 islands in the bay, putting it on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites as well as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. The views were impressive and some of the rocks were 6 times taller than they were wide, almost looking like a skyscraper coming out of the water.

We got a chance to enjoy the scenery on the boat and then stopped to kayak which made the formations even more impressive as we paddled right next to them. We even paddled through a cave where a scene for the movie The Blue Lagoon was supposedly filmed. After kayaking we got a chance to jump in the water from the roof of the 2 story boat which I passed on but Mitch enjoyed and even managed to dodge a few jellyfish floating by and rescued a free beer tossed in by the crew as an incentive.

As the sun set, we sailed to a small deserted island that we'd call home for the night. Our beach front bungalow was simple but we didn't need much to enjoy the sounds of the water from bed. We also enjoyed a nice dinner, drinks, and a fire to keep warm while making some new friends from our tour.

The next morning we got some time to explore the island and hiked to get some impressive views of the bay around us. Before we knew it, it was time to part ways with the island and beautiful views to make the long journey back to Hanoi for onward travel to Danang. That day our travels consisted of 2 boat rides, 2 bus rides, 2 taxi rides, and a plane ride in a 12 hour span, a personal record we never wanted to set!Read more