Our final destination in Vietnam was Halong Bay. The drive from Hanoi to the boat dock was long and bumpy, but we managed to arrive just in time to have a welcome drink and board the small boat to join our Cruise. Our first impressions were great. With a beautiful boat to explore and our lovely 2 rooms, we were all very relaxed and chilled for the afternoon. We were told that to truely enjoy Halong Bay you needed to stay two nights on the boat, so that is what we did, and were so happy that we chose too. There are over 2000 limestone islands in Halong Bay, and about 600 boats cruising the waters. Even with this number of boats, we didn’t feel crowded, unlike our time in Kerala, India.
The food on the boat was generally Vietnamese but was varied enough for the boys to not complain too much !! On the first afternoon we transferred to small boats (6 seaters) to be taken around the local fisherman's village. Floating in the silence of Halong Bay was truely special and the view was spectacular of the limestone islands. After a 40 minute ride, we then saw the Oyster farms and were shown how they process them and culture the pearls.
Returning to the boat to enjoy the sunset and evening activities of cooking classes and night squid fishing. What a fabulous dinner we had with a surprise cake for Jack for his 11th birthday. It was a true surprise for us all and Jack loved it.
The next day we travelled about an hour away into a secluded area of the bay to dock and kayak throughout the limestone islands. Jack and I were a super team together and enjoyed seeing lots of caves and unusual rock formations along the way to a beautiful private beach. The boys made friends with some other expat kids and had a blast on the beach and swimming in the bay. It is always lovely to see them connect with kids in a similar situation and just love the simple things - no technology, no toys, just kids playing tag, hide and seek, castles in the sand. After which we kayaked back to the boat for a wonderfully fresh Vietnamese lunch as we cruised back to the main boat.
Our final morning started with a spot of tai chi on the rooftop for Max and I. Max wasn’t too impressed, but I thought it was a lovely way to start the day. Sadly, it was quite overcast, so the sunrise was nothing special to see. After that we went to Thein Canh Son Cave to see the beautiful stalactites and stalagmites created in the limestone cave. It has a deceiving entrance which then opens in to two large rooms inside. Sadly, after brunch we were then taken back to the mainland for our transfer back to Hanoi.
Our final night in Hanoi was spent shopping for some ‘Nike’ shoes - at $22 each it was very welcomed, seeing our boys seem to need new shoes every month at the moment!! We then had a lovely dinner with friends before a spot of swegway on our way home. Max loved it and was very quick to catch on, Jack took a bit longer and ended with a bit of skin off his elbows. There are people out on the streets everywhere at night, so the activities available to try are numerous.
We very much enjoyed our time in Vietnam and look forward to visiting the southern areas some time in the future.
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