Ha Long Bay

So I ended up booking a 2 night, 3 day boat cruise in Ha Long Bay through my hostel in Hanoi. The company was called Silversea Cruises and probably was a little outside of my backpacker budget but hey! 

I’d spoken to quite a few people who had said different things about visiting Ha Long Bay - either to not go at all and go to Cat Ba island instead which is less touristy or to go and do a 1 or 2 night tour.... We decided to splash out and do a 2 night tour which I’m very glad we did. I feel like if we were to have just gone for 1 night then it would have all been quite rushed. Ha Long Bay is about 4 hours away from Hanoi and is one of the main places to visit in Northern Vietnam so I couldn’t not visit at all! Of course it was touristy and yes there was lots of other boats in the water but Ha Long Bay is a big place so it never really caused a problem!

On the first day we arrived on the boat about midday had an amazing 5 course lunch. The boat was pretty impressive - I think the view from the shower says it all! 

We spent the afternoon cruising through the beautiful scenery of Ha Long Bay and then did some kayaking! 

We then visited Titop Island which had an amazing view point all over Ha Long Bay before heading back on the boat for dinner in the evening (another amazing 5 course meal!)

The second day was our full day in Ha Long Bay and my favourite day of the cruise. The scenery was just amazing! After Breakfast we then went to visit a cave which they call the Fairy cave! It was very glittery inside. I didn’t manage to get any great photos but I did find a crab hiding in the rocks! After more kayaking and a visit to the pearl farm we then spent the afternoon relaxing on the boat before dinner on our final night. 

On our last day we just had the morning before heading back to Hanoi. There was a very early start with a Thai Chi class followed by breakfast and a visit to another cave. This cave was called the Surprising cave and it was huge inside! 

As you can see from the photos unfortunately the weather wasn’t great for the 3 days (this seems to be a running theme of my trip now!) it was generally overcast and a bit grey on most days but luckily it didn’t rain! Sadly it wasn’t swimming weather and to be honest I don’t think I’d want to swim in the water there anyway. I was absolutely shocked how much rubbish and pollution there was throughout all of Ha Long Bay. On both days I went kayaking me and my friend were picking rubbish up out of the water and putting it in our kayak! Very sad to see that such a beautiful place isn’t being looked after. 

My next stop is Hoi An which is further South in Vietnam so let’s hope for some better weather! My next post will be all about that.