Asia, Stop 3 & 4: Hanoi, Ha Long Bay

We left from HoiAn on Christmas Day and headed north to the capital of Vietnam, Hanoi. We arrived to drizzle and an old town packed full of motos and nonstop honking. We struggled to get in the "Christmas spirit", but with our few hours out exploring in the evening, we did find an amazing little coffee shop where the entire place was covered in post-it notes! They even had pens and pencils for writing and posting your own around the place. It was a very western cafe, complete with peppermint hot chocolate on the menu. That was the only thing that day that did feel like Christmas. Our time in Hanoi was short, because we were really just based there before going on our cruise through Ha Long Bay. On the morning of the 26th, we headed out to sea.

Ha Long Bay, located in northeast Vietnam, is one of the new 7 natural wonders of the world. After being there, it is no question to us why that is! The emerald waters and limestone islands are truly a sight to see! Based on recommendations from friends, we chose to do a two night, three day cruise around the bay (which is the longest option.) There is a large variety of quality of cruise companies that offer to take tourists throughout the bay. We chose a mid-range one, which included all meals, a cave tour, an island visit, and multiple opportunities to kayak. 

This cave has only been accessible to tourists for about 50 years. The formations inside were all carved by water, making them uniquely shaped. Though neither of us would say we are especially interested in seeing caves, we both really enjoyed walking through this one!

Since we did the longer cruise option, we were taken further back into the bay where there were less tourists and boats around. We got to kayak through small tunnels into beautiful lagoons, stop at pristine beaches, and lay on the sunbeds on top of the boat (although not in the sun...) as the boat cruised through the large limestone formations. We even stumbled upon a family of monkeys and were entertained for a while just watching them play and scurry along the side of the rock.

It was overcast for almost our entire time on the sea, but we got about 7 minutes of sunshine one afternoon.

As always, one of the highlights of traveling is the people you meet along the way. On the cruise, we just so happened to be seated next to two Australian couples who were also traveling through Vietnam. We immediately "clicked" with them and stayed up late talking and laughing around the dinner table. The next morning, we went kayaking together and then spent the four hour drive back to Hanoi chatting as if we were old friends! Once we returned to Hanoi, we realized that our hotels were only a few doors down from each other (what are the odds?). This was great, as we all wanted to continue hanging out, so we hit up the well-known Cong Caphe to try the infamous Coconut Coffee Smoothie, and then joined the locals at a corner bar for fresh beer (16 cents/pint!!). We loved starting a friendship with them, learning about their lives and experiences, and have now officially put visiting them in Australia at the top of our "to-do" list.

 

Overall, our experience in Ha Long Bay confirmed that it is indeed one of the most beautiful spots on Earth. We would recommend going in warmer weather to take advantage of the opportunities in the bay, but any time of year it is guaranteed to be breathtaking.

 At this point, our time in Vietnam had come to an end, and we were ready for our third asian country, Malaysia. Tune in next time!