Ha Long Bay

After Hanoi, we took the bus east to Ha Long Bay. Most tourists come here for a day tour of the bay or stay on Cat Ba island, but we decided that we wanted a rest, so we rented an apartment in the city for a week. We caught up with another travelling family that we met on a Facebook group. Other than us, we saw no other tourists for the whole week! Thank god for the Apple Translate app! We used this regularly to see what was on the menu and to ask questions, order food, etc. However, it didn’t always work very well… we often ended up with menu items like “dandruff”, “pale cow”, “rolling cow”, “pig on fire”… 😂

It rained nearly the whole week so we weren’t very lucky with the weather, but we hung out indoors with the other family for 3 days and the kids enjoyed playing with other kids their ages. We also discovered a great little cafe (Song Cafe) just around the corner from us, that had swings for the kids and sculptures for them to paint.

The City

Even though the weather was bad, we still walked around the city a few times. The city has some nice views of the limestone formations and a pretty nice bridge spanning the two sides of the city:

There was a somewhat interesting museum that told the history of the area and rock formations along with a bit about their role in what we would call the Vietnam War. They use language about this war that is quite different from what is used in the West:

Fish Market

Ha Long Bay is renowned for its seafood and it has one of the most incredible fish markets I’ve ever seen!

Boat Cruise

On our second to last day, it FINALLY stopped raining! So, we decided to go on a boat tour of the bay. We got a good deal on a luxury cruise. It is a new boat (hence why we got such a good deal) and it being low season, there were only 10 passengers on the boat which can host 100! Here are some photos from around the boat:

One of the highlights of the trip was the absolutely amazing lunch! There was so much food – about 20 courses! I couldn’t capture them all – as we eat, they removed dishes and brought out more.

Sung Sot cave

One of the reasons that we chose this cruise (other than the deal) was that it went to Sung Sot cave which is the largest cave in the bay.

The view from the exit point at the cave was pretty nice with all the tourist boats in the bay.

The boat stopped at another cave where we went kayaking through a tunnel which then led out to an opening (like a crater). But unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take phones or cameras with us so I couldn’t take any pictures of it. And the final boat stop was Tip Top Island (named after a Russian friend of Ho Chi Minh’s, Titov). There was a walk up to the top of this island, but we decided not to do it and instead just sat on the beach for half an hour.

City at night

On our last night in Ha Long Bay, the rain cleared and the city lit up. We were staying in a skyscraper called the Green Diamond and it lit up all green at night with a fountain running outside.

All up, we were a bit bored in Ha Long Bay due to the poor weather. But, it was great to meet the other travelling family (we have seen them again since – they are doing essentially the same trip), and the boat tour was a highlight. While there, I also tried out some Vietnamese beers (the trip 3 one is my favourite):

Next stop, Ninh Binh…