While my last trip to Vietnam lasted a whopping 18 hours, I settled in for a nice 5-day stay this time around, and even managed a weekend escape to see Ha Long Bay, which is about 3.5 hours by car from Hanoi. Ha Long bay is one of those magical places I have heard about for years and finally got to visit. I was traveling with a few colleagues on this particular trip who I also consider friends, so we decided to book an overnight cruise to check it out. The only downside to this idea is that we were not alone in having it. In fact, our guide proudly informed us that there are over 300 boats that are authorized to cruise Ha Long. And while they do a good job of staggering the outgoing and incoming boats, it does still feel like a lot of people are up in the bay. That's the down side. On the other hand, Ha Long bay is indeed an extraordinarily beautiful corner of the world. The name Ha Long Bay literally translates as "descending dragon bay" - I cannot imagine a more mythically kick-ass name than that. According to my bff the Internet, the legend goes that the bay was created when a great mountain dragon (are there any other kind?) took off for the coast, gouging out the crevasses of the bay from its flailing tail. When he dove into the sea, the area then filled with water, leaving only the mountain pinnacles visible. I buy it... erosion bay just doesn't have the same poetic charm. When you cruise Ha Long, you don't just chill on the ship (which is kinda what I had in mind, to be honest) - you pop in and out on excursions. The first excursion was to climb up to "surprise cave". I took this to mean, "Surprise! You're getting off the air conditioned boat and climbing in 100+ degree humidity into a big-arse cave! Have fun!!" In all honesty, it was pretty cool for a cave, and I was glad to have done it. Even more glad when I found out that our next excursion was a swim in the bay. And thank god - it was seriously, seriously hot in Viet Nam when we were there, with the thermostat reading a "feels like" temperature of 116. The BEST part of the trip, I have to say, was watching the sunset from the upper deck of the boat. where we also had a 'cooking lesson' from the chef who taught us to make (and eat) spring rolls. I am now a card-carrying certified spring-roll-maker. Many more pics from this trip can be viewed in the trip album here.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorBecause why not get married and move to Paris to really kick off your thirties? Archives
December 2016
|