Halong Bay is a perfect picture of tranquility and mystique. The trip from Hanoi was quite the adventure. What was suppose to be a 3 hour bus ride took nearly 4 ½ hours due to traffic. There was an accident that caused a chicken truck to tip over. It backed up the only two lane highway that lead from Hanoi to Halong. Imagine the golden gate bridge stopping for an hour. That’s how it felt. When we arrived in Halong City we thought to ourself this wasn’t so great, It was mainly a strip of hotels and tourist stops. Nothing really much to see but junk boats docked at the harbors. The boat we boarded was a wooden junk boat that were among hundreds of similar nature. After departing Halong city we gathered in the mess hall of the boat to eat our lunch. The food by far was some of the worst food I’ve ever had next to the fried rice dish we had on the Great Wall last year. They served fried fish probably caught off the side of the boat. There was no seasoning so it was rather bland. There were other dishes all fried that were pretty bad. After lunch was served we headed up to the top of the boat to lounge around in the warm sun. The temperature was around 75-80 if I had to guess. The weather was a bit hazy so I doubt my pictures will turn out well without some photoshopping. The bay was as tranquil as any place I have been. The only noise came from the churning engine that was powering the boat through the open water. The sun was ripe for an afternoon nap. My cousin and I grabbed our deck chairs and took an afternoon nap before awakening to hike through Cat Ba Island caves.

We arrived at Cat Ba Island to find out there was an excursion through the numerous caves. The caves were monstrously large. There were large enough to house an entire village. Now they have been turned into a tourist attraction that resembles walking through a modern day museum. The tour was about 45 minutes long and included hiking up and down some pretty steep stairs. Not the ideal situation when all you want to do is lounge around for the day. It was a change a pace however. After the caves we lounged some more on the boat deck and enjoyed an hour of kayaking in and around the small caves of Cat Ba. Dinner was served and we were off to bed. Once again the food was bad and tasted af if some of the food had been recycled from lunch. I wish I had brought some of my own food.

The rooms were cramped. The bed was uncomfortable and there was no hot water. A few others complained they had no electricity and there were cockroaches in their cabins. We didn’t see any in ours so I didn’t have anything to complain about in that regards. The shower was pretty cold but I’ve been in worst conditions camping where I haven’t showered in a week. I didn’t get very much sleep that night because our room was next to the damn generator which was running all night long. The bed was really firm. It was like sleeping on the floor. I was really glad we were only on the boat for another day.