Ha Long Bay - the Most Magical Place

Hal Long Bay was a very magical and amazing place, I wish I could go back! I'm again very jealous of the people who live here and get to be part of the view. I booked a cruise for two days and one night to Ha Long Bay, which is two hours from Hanoi. My tour guide's name was Tony who was born in Vietnam but has lived in Laos for most of his life. He was great and was a very funny guy! It's funny how the Vietnamese who don't know English very well tend to repeat themselves over and over again, which is what Tony did for the whole trip!

I went alone on the cruise but met some great people who are traveling all over Vietnam. I love how so many people from all over the world can come together and become friends right away. I love the travelers' life! The cruise boat was charming and perfect for the experience. It's three stories with rooms, a staff kitchen, dining room, and a sun deck/bar. It really was a cute boat! I have never been on a small cruise boat before, and it was fun to sleep overnight on one. My roommate was a 29 year old women from Australia, and she's traveling all over Southeast Asia for her birthday present. At least I did not room with a crazy person! We hit it off right away and had a lot of fun for the two days. There was an older couple from Scotland that was awesome and a lot of fun! They ended up giving me their email address in case I'm ever in Scotland I have a place to stay! A family from Australia has been traveling all over Vietnam, and they take care of foreigners who are volunteers in Perth.  Maybe I'll contact her and do that for a summer! I loved meeting all these new people and learning all about what they do!

We set sail towards the beautiful mountains, it was like a dream! The boat was surrounded by huge mountains the entire trip as we weaved through them. The weather was sunny and a few clouds in the sky - it was perfect! The pictures I have don't do this place justice at all. You will just have to see for yourself. The story behind this place has to do with dragons. The landscape looks like it was carved by dragons as they fly over the sky. There are three different bays which are called after the mother dragon and her children. If you wish to know more you can always learn more on the internet. After the boat left the dock, we had welcome drinks (which I gave to a man that has already had too many) it was fun! The transport from the cruise boat was done with a little motor boat to take us to the islands.

This rock formation below is one of the famous rocks in Ha Long Bay because of its shape and the crack in the middle of the two stones.

Our first adventure was hiking up and through the biggest cave in Ha Long Bay. This cave was massive and had some very colorful lights. The majority of the cave was in one giant room out of the five rooms. It was probably the coolest cave I have ever been in yet. One of the pictures below is of me on a rock toward the opening of the cave. Only one of my knees was damaged in this process, the limestone was very slippery!

Then we went over to Ti Top Island a few minutes away where we climbed up the mountain to see a 360 view over the water. IT WAS SPECTACULAR! I could see the many cruise ships and all the little motor boats in the water. There are about two thousand boats in just this harbor alone, and there was about 200 of them near us that day. The mountains are amazing with the way they are formed and look like they just popped up out of the water. It was a steep hike to the top, but was well worth it. After the hike we went swimming in the small beach off the island. The water was surprisingly cold and wasn't as clean as I had hoped. I have been swimming in Vietnam!! It was so nice to enjoy the view and to just take it all in!

It was sad to see all the pollution in the water with all the trash floating. Littering is just a part of life here and they see no problem with it. I would love to see what this place looked like years ago when it wasn't as touristy.

The food on the cruise ship was really good and very fresh. My room was very nice, but the beds were like rocks but I still slept like a baby till I woke up at 4:30 am because of how much light there  was outside. In the early morning I went outside of the boat to see the sunrise and was surprised to see heavy fog. I felt like I was right in the middle of the King Kong movie (it was filmed in Vietnam but in Nihn Binh) the fog especially made it feel mystical. It was spectacular! I was amazed at how quiet it was.  There was not a sound while I was on the sun deck. It was very peaceful, which is a big change from the hectic city life. As I was walking around the boat, everyone was still sleeping even the staff. I don't think any of them stayed up during the night to keep watch because Tony wouldn't give me a straight answer when I asked. In the dining room on the floor there were two of the staff sleeping on the floor. I'm not surprised that this was the sleeping quarters for some of the staff. The captain's bed was in the same room as the control room. There was also four beds in a room that is right next to the kitchen. I couldn't help was think that if this was the arrangement on an America cruise ship, they would have a fit. The standards in Vietnam are very different from America.

In the morning some of us did yoga on the sundeck right in the middle of all the mountains! It really was a lot of fun to become friends will everyone on the boat.

During the night they had night squid fishing, or as we liked to call it squiding! We were out there for a couple hours talking and trying to catch one. But we discovered half way through that it's not the season for squid. A couple from Chicago and I tried every method of fishing that we knew of to catch one, but we never could. The women from Scotland came down to try and was asking us how to catch one, and we thought she was no threat. It took her only a minute to put the rod in the water and to pull out a squid. We all couldn't believe it! We were all screaming as a squid on a hook was swung around. That squid was then brought to the mainland to be made into a type of squid cake (they are delicious).

I was Assistant to the Captain for a little while on the big ship! His name is Thang and was very nice to let to take the wheel. I was able to communicate with him a little bit to tell him my name and where I'm from. He understood me - it was a miracle! I have recently learned how to say directions and I was able to use them a lot! Thang would tell me in Vietnamese which direction to turn the wheel, it was a lot of fun! A girl from France came down and pretended to fake throw up from my driving....I thought she was kidding. But then I looked at a video a guy took and now I understand. I wanted to defend myself since the captain told me what to do the entire time. Check out the Video! I did get out tour guide to start calling me "Assistant Captain Collins" for the rest of our trip which was fun.

We next stopped by a pearl farm.  The buildings were basically shacks that are floating on the water. This is where they open the oysters and adjust them to speed up the pearl making process. The actual farm is under the water and is marked by black bouyses. They speed up the process of pearl making by inserting a round piece of mother pearl into a certain part of the oyster. They also change the membrane by cutting it up and coating it. They have three types of pearls that are produced, and it all depends on the type of oyster and the coloring it possesses. This pearl farm has eight workers which will produce 70-100 oysters every day. Only about 10 percent of the oysters will produce a pearl, that is such a small percentage! It also takes about three to four years till you can open the oysters to check if a pearl can be found. I now understand why real pearls are expensive, it's a lengthy process.

These are baby oysters!

It did rain heavy in the early morning which added to the mystical feel of this beautiful place. I was sad that it was cloudy and raining, but I'm thankful I was able to see this place sunny and rainy. It was much greener and vibrate after the morning shower.

The two photos above look like a thumb!

We then had a cooking class where we learned how to make spring rolls. I didn't know how easy it is to make them.  I need to start making them at home! All I need is to find some rice paper and some dog. Haha just kidding! Literally one of the best foods in Vietnam besides Bun Cha.

One of the ladies from Korea put plastic gloves on her feet because her shoes were wet. She was so funny!

After I got back to Hanoi I walked around the old quarters to shop and to find something to eat. It's so hard to find a good restaurant when you're a foreigner because I want good food but don't know where to go. I ended up finding a good Bun Cha restaurant where I started talking to a girl from Ho Chi Minh City who was spending the weekend in Hanoi. She was very nice and I learned more about the culture down south. It also was a blessing that we became friends because my phone died and I would not have been able to call my favorite grab bike men.