A Night on Halong Bay
Trip Start
Unknown
1
13
14
Trip End
Ongoing
Halong Bay, Vietnam
Monday, January 18, 2010
First thing we did was have lunch and then relaxed for a bit and went swimming in the bay. After this we went kayaking through the bay with our guide, Viet. We went through a small cave (which I thought would be more impressive) and Viet told us stories and legends behind different bays and islands.
After dinner, around 8pm, is when happy hour started - 2 for 3 drinks. I was sure to stock up. Our Aussie rep from the hostel, Marcus, started a drinking game with me because most of the Aussie's seemed to be playing some charades-type thing. We got the American dudes (who are in the army and fought in Iraq) into our game as well and then we all started downing drinks pretty speedily. It turned out to be a pretty fun night and the Bay looked really pretty with all the lights from the boats reflecting off it.
The next morning we had to be up for breakfast around 7:30am. The next few hours after that were spent lounging on the top deck. The sun was out, which apparently we were very lucky for because it hadn't been out there since mid-December. After getting back to the harbour we boarded the bus back to Hanoi. There were some extra people on our bus from another tour and I was seated beside an Aussie (of course) guy who I ended up playing Hang Man with to pass the time. It was pretty fun.
I enjoyed my time in Halong Bay but I think my expectations were set too high. Seeing so many photos of it taken from the sky view really put a different image in my head. Seeing it from sea-level just wasn't the same. Still beautiful, but I would have liked to have seen it from above to really enjoy and appreciate it's grandeur.
