Hanoi and Halong Bay 4/23/13 - 4/28/13

On our train ride from Hoi An, one of the stops was where our good friend Evan, who we met in the Philippines, was boarding to carry on with a few of his friends to Hanoi.  We randomly ended up in the same train car a few doors down.  It was cool how our paths crossed again.  We met up with him and his friends the next evening for some Vietnamese food and cheap draft beer.

After leaving the train station and settling into our hotel we had booked, we researched and figured out the best option for us to take a Halong Bay tour.  The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles scattered amongst the very calm, blue/green water.  It's one of the New 7 Wonder of Nature.  The usual way to tour the area is by small cruise boats.  We had heard great things about Halong Bay and its mystique.  We heard it was similar to the limestone cliffs of Thailand but with a darker, mysterious feel.

We opted for what was called the "Luxury" edition with a company called Alova Gold Cruise. Our package provided us 2 nights sleeping on the boat and activities such as kayaking, swimming, cooking class, and tons of eating.  We actually sought out and found the Travel Asia agency directly and were able to obtain a discount so that we could afford this option (otherwise, tourists pay premiums because the fees are split between the boat company, agency, and usually hotel).  Since this was our last stop of the trip we decided to splurge and spend more on the cruise than we otherwise would have.  We're glad we did because it was totally worth it!

First day of the tour consisted of taking a 4 hour van ride north of Hanoi to Halong Bay, meeting our boat mates (other tourists), and then we started off with a slow cruise after lunch taking in the sights.  It was stunning!! We were extremely lucky because the weather was beautiful with clear skies.  Part of what gives Halong Bay the mysterious feel is the fact that it's usually rainy or foggy.  Not the case for the first day of our cruise.

The boat took us to an island that allowed us to climb up hundreds of stairs for an impressive panoramic view of a part of the bay and enjoy a wonderful picture opportunity of the cliffs, blue water, and all the boats.  Afterwards, we spent the next hour or so kayaking through a cave into a hideout lagoon which was nice for playing and swimming.  We couldn't get over the incredible views and the awesome powers of nature!

At night, we had "cooking lessons" which were actually more of learning how to roll food into rice paper for fried spring rolls.  They were delicious though once the cooks fried them up.  We were full off the spring rolls alone, yet, there was still so much good food to eat at dinner.  Crab, shrimp, vegetables, etc.  We were impressed with the quality and quantity of the food on the boat.

Matt then tired himself out playing with the 5 year old girl on board, Gia.  Chase, throwing, catching, charades;  there was lots of games played.  There were only about 15 people on our boat cruise, and we really enjoyed getting to spend time with everyone and learning their stories.

On our second day we went to big cave with all of our new friends from the boat.  The cave was pretty impressive, it was huge!!  On the way back from the cave we were transferred to a smaller boat with two others.  We then proceeded to pick up about 4 others along the way.  It was our boat for the day while the "one nighters" made their way back to shore.  We delved a little deeper into the isles and went kayaking through some more caves and lagoons.  It wasn't too strenuous, but it was so great to see the sights in such an up close and serene setting.  After kayaking we hung out on the roof of the boat, ate a big, tasty lunch, and then went to a pearl farm.  We weren't expecting much from the pearl farm, but we both actually learned a few things from the farm and were glad we went in.

We were taken back to our original boat to shower up and meet the new "one nighters".  Of course Matt met his new best friend, the 6 year old girl from Italy, Livia.  After rolling spring rolls, although this time they were fresh rolls and were edible immediately (delicious!!), we had another amazing dinner.  Of course the night ended with play time with Livia.  She and her parents were such a sweet family and fun to get to know.

The tour was very well planned and stuck to a detailed schedule, which was fine by us because after 10 months we were tired of making choices ;-).  After returning to shore and eating lunch, the van took us all back to our hotels and we had time to relax and walk through the city some more.

In our final days, Kristin finally got a trim and had a few layers put in (she liked the $15 - $20 range that it cost in Vietnam compared to home).  Thank goodness she wasn't getting anything fancy because the stylists knew very little English.  Matt bought a few leather belts at the market on the cheap, but came up short in finding a back pack at the price he wanted.  Crazy enough though, Matt randomly found a Texas A&M hat in a store along one of our walks.  He could not pass up getting a Texas A&M hat in Vietnam (for $4!!!).

We also met up with Dave, a Canadian that is teaching English in Hanoi.  We originally met him in the Philippines and he graciously offered to show us a bit of the city once we made it there.  It was cool to get the "local" tour and chat with him as we caught up about the rest of each others travels and adventures.  He took us to one of his favorite restaurants, which on top of being delicious, was right on one of the many lakes in Hanoi.  Great setting.

That night we went threw our bags and left what we didn't want anymore (Matt left more than Kristin ;-) ).

The time really did fly by and we couldn't believe our trip was coming to an end :-(.  The next day Kristin researched quite a bit trying to find a good/ clean place to get a pedicure, after the bad experience in the Philippines.  She managed to find an awesome place where she got a spa pedicure with a leg rub for $13!  We spend the last few hours blogging and talking before we had our last meal in Vietnam.  And just like that, our time in Vietnam was over and we were in a cab on our way to the airport.  We had a midnight flight to Narita, Japan with a 9 hour layover.  And then to LAX before getting to DFW.  30 hours and 3 flights later we would be back in Texas!