Just when you think you know what the world looks like you go to a place that looks like it should be a fantasy world. While cruising through Ha Long Bay, I felt like I was aboard the Dawn Treader coasting through the far edges of Narnia’s sea.
This should definitely be a shooting location for a Narnia film. Make it happen Hollywood!
It was very other-worldly and a must do thing when on a trip to Northern Vietnam. We booked our overnight cruise through our hotel. The hotel arranged for the company to pick us up and we also paid for the tour when we checked out of our hotel. It was very convenient.
We decided to do this because we have both always had luck when going with the recommended companies from our hotels. The hotels usually find you a good company for an equivalent price range of the hotel so it is still within your budget.
Our home for 2 days and 1 night!
Laura on the top deck of our boat.
Other cruise boats were always around, but they didn’t make things feel crowded. If anything they made it more scenic!
We went with Galaxy Cruises, which is a bit expensive compared to other overnight cruises in Ha Long Bay, but it was very safe and had a more family atmosphere than the cheaper “party cruises.” When we were booking safety was our number one priority since we both know from travels to Indonesia how dangerous overnight cruises could be. Even though Ha Long Bay doesn’t really have that reputation we tried to be careful just in case.
The cruise included all our meals, a cooking class, a kayaking trip, and a tour of one of Ha Long Bay’s biggest caverns.
So much good reading was accomplished in this spot. My kindle is a precious travel accessory.
Laura, unfortunately, got really sick while on the boat. We never really figured out what made her stomach so ill, but it was likely a small case of “South East Asia Stomach.” It happens at least once every trip.
I had a great time though and she felt better by the second half of our trip and enjoyed the views of the bay from the top deck of our boat.
This was as the sun was setting and we were looking for a place to anchor for the night.
Laura finally feeling a bit better came out to watch the sunset and the scenery.
My favorite part of the trip has to be either kayaking through little caverns in the ocean or our meal times. Laura and I were sharing a table with a beautifully in love Isreali couple who were celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary. They were so sweet and funny and we really enjoyed chatting with them about their travels and their family.
Y’all, this is an actual photo of kayaking that I took with my iphone. It was truly breathtaking.
It was so hard to get good pictures because of all the water and I didn’t want to ruin my phone!
The caverns tour on the second day.
The caves were beautifully lit and were similar to the caverns in Texas that I’ve been to.
You can see the scale of these caverns. They were enormous.
Sorry, my posts about Vietnam are so behind in getting updated! This term at school has been very very very busy, but I hope to be all caught up with my travel posts before the end of the month. Until next time friends!
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