Halong Bay

Our Halong Bay group on the deck

Halong bay is that place you see on all the pictures. I think its been in a few films, incliding James Bond, which makes it quite recognisable around the world. So we decided to do a boat trip there, and booked a 2 day, one night cruise on a luxury boat around Halong Bay including all meals, kayaking, a tour of the caves there and karaoke on the boat. We were very lucky to be placed with an extremely nice group of people. We got into a minibus with a load of other travellers in the morning, and it took 3 hours to drive there. On the way they stopped for a break at this art place for tourists where disabled people make art. We got to Halong bay and they dropped us off right outside our boat and we sat down for lunch with our new boatmates. 

Our room on board

They were all so nice. 2 German sisters who had lived in Mallorca most of their lives, 2 Aussie/Indian/Sri Lankan medics who were really funny and 3 students from Britain who were all studying Chinese and living in China. We all got on like a house on fire which made the trip what it was. We set off through the stunning scenery on the boat and then we stopped at some magnificent caves (the best caves I've ever seen), where we went for a tour round inside and then we all got to kayak around that area. Then we went to a beach with a mountain on it, where some people swam and some climbed up the mountain. I climbed up the mountain because the water was filthy. 

Halong bay is stunning and a world Heritage sight, but my god the water is polluted. I climbed the mountain and got bitten to death by mozzies but the view at the top was stunning. When we came back down, Jemma and the German girl ran in the sea to cool off. After this, we all got back on the boat, showered and had dinner (really nice Vietnamese food like curried veg, rice and spring rolls – Vietnam does the best spring rolls). And then after dinner, a few people went to bed, but a lot of us stayed up and got really hyper doing karaoke.

Karaoke

Vietnamese Karaoke

 I didn't drink any alcohol but I felt like I had. The tour guide was trying to make everyone drink this strong Vietnamese rice wine but it was foul so I didn't drink any. Those who did got quite drunk. After the karaoke, a few of us went up on deck on the deck chairs and put the world to rights under the stars.

The next day was a beautiful sunny day and it was very hot. We sailed amongst all of the stunning fjords and mountains and it was breathtaking – some of the best scenery I've seen in my life. It looked a lot like Milford sound in New Zealand but better and bigger, and for the same price we paid for a day trip in New Zealand we got a 2 day boat cruise in Vietnam. 

Scene from James Bond

After a morning of cruising, we ended the day at and oyster farm, where they showed us how they make pearls, and then it was back into the minibus with our new friends, where we laughed all the way back (especially with this one guy Gareth from Nottingham who was so funny). And on the way we stopped for lunch in a restaurant, that was air-conditioned and I felt like I'd gone to heaven because the bus we were on was really bouncy, rickety and the weather outside was boiling.  

Stunning scenery

More photos on facebook: Halong Bay photos