Vietnam: Halong Bay

Our fourth and final stop on our Crazian Vacation was Vietnam! If you'll remember we were on a whirlwind trip! We landed in Hanoi in the evening, and the following morning were picked up by a van from Dragon King Cruises. They picked up about 12 other passengers, and we were on our way to Halong Bay! Halong Bay is a World Heritage Site, and is beautiful. Unfortunately the weather was pretty crappy while we were there, but it was still completely beautiful, mystical, dreamy and every thing I'd hoped for. Except for the boat, and the pollution.

Our cruise ship Junk (no really, that's what they're called) had about 18 people on board, plus a staff full of service people, and a tour guide. Man, was he cheesy! I LOVE cheesy tour guides. I crack up at all the jokes.

I think the best way to describe this excursion of the weekend is to copy the itinerary straight from the website and elaborate for you. My comments will be in italics.

Day 1 Hanoi – Halong Bay (L – D)

7.45- 8.30 Pick you up at your hotel by shuttle bus of Dragon King Cruise. 
10.30 Take a rest at Humanity center and enjoy local specialties. You've gotta love communism. This is a tourist shop that reminded us of the government run shops in China. We had to walk through them. We beelined it through and sat in the parking lot to wait to be allowed back in the van. Sorry Vietnamese Government, we're not giving our money directly to you.

12.00 The captain and tender welcome you to get Dragon King Cruise. Savor the delicious lunch as Dragon King Cruise pass through thousands of islands and islets with different shapes. This was complete chaos. CHAOS. There were probably 200 boats returning, leaving, unloading, loading passenger. I was sure we were going to die getting on the boat. I've never put a life jacket on so quickly! We got on a teeny tug boat and it pulled us out to where our Junk was, a nice and large, old white boat. Rumor has it each boat used to be unique and different but the gov't issued a law that says all boats have to be painted white. Bor-ing.

 The tug-boat we took to our Junk.

On the top deck of our Junk.

15.30 Explore the biggest and the most amazing cave in Halong Bay – Surprise Cave. Ok, this WAS COOL. I hate to give away what the 'surprise' is, but I'm going to give you a hint and say it's quite a few phallic rocks. I can say no more. The caves were absolutely breathtaking. HUGE and filled with natural beauty. All of Halong Bay really is breathtaking.

17.00 Kayaking for an hour around the fishing village and discover the life of community there. Then back to Dragon King Cruise for Sunset Party, get to calm, clean water place for swimming. George and I tried to canoe, once upon a time. It ended with me in tears, our boat upside down, and us both vowing not to do that again. But we did it again (granted, kayaking and canoeing are different) and this went much better! No fighting at all! Ha! It was just such a travesty to see how very dirty the water was. Seriously, trash everywhere you looked. The water was saturated with oil. It was heartbreaking. Stupid tourists. Halong Bay is a World Heritage Site, and I would say GO! NOW! Before it is completely ruined by humans. So the part of the itinerary that said to swim in the calm and clean water? Not even a little bit existent. ::sigh::

19.30 Enjoy delicious and romantic dinner. (This itinerary has been updated since we did it. When we were there, we were offered a cooking class! We made spring rolls. It was fun, and they were pretty good!) 

21.00 Free time for entertainment with the funny plays such as squid fishing, karaoke program, stars watching on sundeck… Spend a romantic night on board. So here we are in the middle of Halong Bay, with, I don't know-- 50+ other boats surrounding us, and you can hear them singing karaoke, laughing, and carrying on. Not our crowd! Our small crowd mostly spread out and went to bed so there was no "funny plays" going on. There was squid fishing, which we decided to partake in. It was going well, except no one caught a squid. Then, the guy from Japan (so funny to meet him!) caught a squid! We all got closer to look, and the squid flung himself, and he inked. ON. ME. And not just on me... like all over me. I just started screaming at George, "give me the key, give me the key!" Because I wanted to get back to our room and get cleaned off as soon as possible. My shirt was ruined. I did have enough sense to look in the mirror, and take a picture of myself. You're welcome.

Day 2 Ha Long Bay – Hanoi (B – L)

06.30 Start your new day on Halong bay with doing morning exercises, Taichi or hunting photos. Have breakfast with coffee or tea … (Our morning was super foggy!)
08.30 Relax and enjoy the breath-taking beauty of the rocky islands rising from the crystal-clear water of the Bay. (This part was good)
10.00 Visit Ba Hang Fishing Village by tender to experience the lifestyle of local people. (Ok, this itinerary is outdated from when we went last November(could be seasonal too), but they took us to an island (on the tug-boat again) where we were able to walk up a cliff to see the amazing views, or spend time swimming on the beach. Well, the fog was really thick, so the view from the top wasn't spectacular, but still very dreamy. And the water was disgusting. No possible way was I getting in there! 

10.30 Back to Dragon King Cruise’s restaurant to join cooking class and enjoy lunch. (Nah, our cooking class was the night before, but when we got back on the boat it poured down rain so we were all stuck in the eating hall as we rode back to the shore.) 
12.00 Disembark and transfer back to Hanoi.
16.00 Arrive in Hanoi.End of the tour
Overall, it was not a horrible tour, and Halong Bay is really, truly, something to see! We just didn't have the best experience of all time. I would still recommend going. Do not walk. Do not run. FLY there (it's dangerous to swim) and check it out for yourself!