A cruise at Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

I spent my last two days in Vietnam in Ha Long Bay which is an UNESCO World Heritage site because of its spectacular limestone mountains rising up from the water. I booked a two day - one night tour from my hostel at Hà Nội city centre. I was looking into many options as I wanted to avoid a ship tour that would concentrate on partying, but found out that many of the tours were very similar to each other - at least in my price range.

The Ha Long Hideaway tour offered a great stay on a beautiful ship with many activities. The day started with a smaller boat ride that took us to our ship that was anchored deeper in the bay. We were welcomed on the boat and got to eat some delicious lunch before making our way to our rooms.

I was a late booking with the lowest fees so I stayed in the same room with two other people. It didn't matter to me or the other two people though since the room was spacious and amazing. The views were the best part of it.

On the first day we headed out to a small beach hidden in the middle of the limestone mountains. There were meant to be a couple of options of beaches but as the tide was high, the other beach was completely under water. We jumped off the boat and swam in the warm waters, greeted some other tours as they glided by us with kayaks and swam our way to a cave near the beach. The evening ended with a beautiful sunset.

In the evening the boat offered us buffet style barbecue dinner and you could join the bar at the deck of the boat. I tried to stay awake as long as I could but ended up being one of the first ones to go to bed after the beer bong tournament had been finished.

These two pictures (above and below) tell the story of the Vietnamese weather. In the morning we checked out from our rooms after breakfast and headed out to do some kayaking. When we boarded the kayaks, it was raining heavily and visibility was so bad. The rain was warm though, so we didn't feel cold, and it had its own magical feeling to it.

30 minutes later the rain was gone and it was sunny again. At the boat there was a Singaporean family of 5 who I teamed up with, since everyone needed to be kayaking in pairs. They were a competitive family so I ended up racing against the family members on the way back to the boat. We won!

If I had had more time, I would've stayed one more night and added a hike on one of the bigger islands on the bay. If I had some more money, I would take a more private and quite tour around the bay where I could learn a little bit more about the ecosphere at the same time.

After the cruise I went back to Hà Nội city for my last night in Vietnam.

Next stop, Singapore!