HaLong Bay

We came back to Hanoi after our tour in Sapa and spent 1 night there. The following morning, our tour guide for our Halong bay tour picked us up. Once we had picked up the others on the tour, the mini van made its way to the pier where we hopped on a boat that took us to our cruise boat. Unfortunately Ida wasn't feeling good, most likely due to food poisoning but she actually didn't miss much, she was there for all the festivities, just slept whenever we weren't doing anything. 

The boat ride was wonderful. We saw tons of limestone islands of all sorts large, small, curvy, lumpy, you name it but every one of them covered with trees. Not only beautiful but so relaxing, not so much the loud motor beneath us but the wind against my sweaty face, the sound of the water crashing against the sides of the boat, and the salty aroma of the sea. 

We stopped and kayaked to some of the caves. I'm always happy if I get to kayak, it's one of my favorite things to do but kayaking through a cave takes kayaking to a whole new level!!! When you look up the ceiling of the cave is distorted into a bunch of weird awesome hanging rock formations. As we paddled through we could hear the screeches of bats and every now and then we would see one would flutter by. Going through the first cave was definitely a piece a cake compared to the second. The second cave had a really low ceiling due the higher water level that day. This means to pass through some parts of the cave we had to completely submerge ourselves, laying flat inside the kayak, peeking out just enough to see where we needed to paddle. Others areas, we literally couldn't paddle, just laid our paddle vertically flat across the kayak so the paddles didn't get caught and hand by hand pushed ourselves along against the top of the caves rocky ceiling. There's also not a whole lot of space on either side and the path through the cave is curvy, so it takes some time to creep through. 

After we finished kayaking we came back to the boat and had lunch. When we all finished eating, everyone just chilled and enjoyed the ride, snapping pictures along the way as the boat made its way to where we would swim. It's kind of funny, I'm normally always up for swimming but I wasn't feeling it. Even Ida wanted to swim despite not feeling great. I also knew I couldn't miss out so I did take a dip into the water but mostly I enjoyed watching everyone else jumping off the sides of the boat and crashing into the water with huge splashes. People in the water cheered others on to make the big jump from the top deck of the boat. There was lots of laughter! It was a good time!

The very last activity we did before getting off at the private island where we stayed, was having the boats specially made cruise cocktail, a delicious blend. No clue what was in the blend but I could definitely taste a hint of the local honey. 

When we arrived at the island, our tour guide, knoc (nickname she used since her real name is more challenging to pronounce for people) showed us to our rooms where we'd stay the next 2 nights so we could get our stuff settled. It was soon dinner time. Ida and I ended up skipping the main meal because we were so full after the appetizers. Instead we used the time to freshen up after the fun filled day with a nice shower. 

After I ended up talking to another traveler. We walked along the beach stargazing. We used an app on her phone to see what constellations we could see. We found Scorpio and Pisces as well as the planet Saturn. I think that island had the best view of the stars we've seen so far. It was gorgeous! Ida and I both went to bed early that first day. It had been a long day. Everyone else stayed up late partying.

We were woken up by Knoc for breakfast at 8am. Definitely had an early start each morning. When breakfast finished, most people packed up to leave, only having booked the 2 day tour instead of 3 like Ida and I had. After we saw them all off, we took our first trek on the island. At first it just seem like a nice hike and then we were soon climbing up the rocky limestone till we came to a beautiful view of the sea. We did find a ourselves spots to sit along the boulders but not for very long because the sun was so strong and we were all drenched in sweat. 

We continued our way up till we reached the very top. The climb was much steeper than the last but neither were very long. Going up some of the paths required more hanging onto the trees to prevent slipping down the dry gravely dirt path and the rock climbing required more coordination of careful placement of hands and feet. As soon as I made it to the top, I basically started my way back down after snapping a few photos. I was nervous about going back but it actually wasn't too bad.

We had the rest of the afternoon to do whatever we liked. Ida and I went for a swim and relaxed on the beach for an hour or two. It was long afternoon but we did end up passing the time with a few card games and a game of ping pong. I also spent some time writing blog posts.

In the early evening, we set out for another beach on the island where we'd watch the sunset. I think people who live here are very used to trekking in flip flops or slip on sandals because while our tour guide knoc said flip flops were fine for this trek, I definitely would have worn sneakers. I ended up hiking barefoot because my flip flops became so slippery with all the sweat. I think this trek was longer than the one we took in the morning or at least it felt like it. When we finally made it there, we all immediately jumped into the water. As we waited for the sun to set, we sat in the water and just chitchatted. 

Our tour guide opened up to us and shared her life story about growing up and living in Vietnam. She talked about her family, the expectations of society (traditionally as well as more modern day), and how her and her family were impacted by those expectations. She grew up on a farm. Her family raised chickens and pigs. They also grew peanuts and lots of vegetables.   Most of their families income seemed to come from her mother selling the produce they grew. I'm actually not sure what her father did but she did mention that he joined the army when Vietnam helped Cambodia bring down the Khmer Rouge. She grew up with 2 sisters. In Vietnam, traditionally families are pretty much expected to have at least 1 boy who will stay with the parents and take care of them when they are older since the girls become a part of their future husbands family. Her mother and father were very happy with 3 girls and weren't bothered that they didn't have a son but sadly her father received a lot of criticism from family for it. Her and her sister made their parents proud though, they all did very well in school and found their own jobs. She said it's very common for parents to get their kids jobs for them or financially support them till they get married but her parents didn't have to. One of her sisters now lives in the US after receiving a full scholarship into a university and her other sister is married and has a family. 

One of the stories she told of her childhood that we enjoyed was of how sometimes they had so many peanuts, they didn't have enough storage room in their house so her parents would put the peanuts on her and her sisters beds and they would have to sleep with the peanuts. She now has very little interest in eating peanuts. As a kid, she also always wanted her family to get a cow or a buffalo because her friends would take their cow or buffalo to graze in a field and play but she just had chores and animals to tend to at home since she couldn't really walk any of the pigs. 

Knoc now lives a good life in the city with a very good job doing tour guides. Her family seems very supportive of her and just wants her to be happy in whatever she does. They aren't strict like other traditional Vietnamese families. So far I think the people in Vietnam might be the friendliest so far and so open with us about their lives. We've learned so much about how people live in Vietnam just from talking to the locals. I so enjoyed hearing Knoc's story! How amazing of her to share with us in the first place!

By the time Knoc finished telling us about her life, the sun was setting. It was a beautiful evening. Sadly we didn't stay for the full sunset. We could have if we wanted to but that meant walking back in the dark versus a relaxing boat ride back. Later that night Ida and I enjoyed sitting on the beach looking up at the stars and chitchatting away about life and other random things. We talked for hours. Time just flew by. Before we knew it, it was past midnight and time to go to sleep.

Ida and I decided to wake for the sunrise on our last day. The sun took its time. We were so groggy, we just wanted to get a couple pretty pictures and go back to sleep but the wait felt like forever, especially with the mosquitoes bugging us. We went back to sleep after and slept another 3 hours. 

Later we woke up again to the voice of Knoc calling everyone for breakfast. Since it was our last day, we packed up our things and brought our stuff with us to breakfast. After we all finished eating and everyone was ready, we took a boat to Cat Ba for our last trek in Cat Ba national park. This trek wasn't hard, just very tiring. There were lots of steps to climb. We stopped when we were 1/3 of the way up and again when we were 2/3 of the way up to rest and hydrate. Once we reached the top of the small mountain, we enjoyed the beautiful view of the mountains overflowing with lush green trees.

After a very sweaty trek up the mountain, we hiked back down and enjoyed a swim in the park's pool to wash away all our gross sweat. The water was so cool having come from the mountains. Even though we didn't get to swim for long, it was so refreshing! We were in a bit of a rush because our boat back to Hanoi was leaving early that day. We had to leave so we had time to eat lunch and rush to catch our boat. Unfortunately we didn't make it but luckily there was another boat, just an hour wait. We all relaxed at a restaurant until it was time to board.

Back in Hanoi, we returned to our hostel and relaxed there the rest of the evening.