On the third and the fourth days of our trip we booked an overnight stay to Halong Bay. This was a beautiful trip. The ride through the country side allowed us to enjoy the scenery and watch people perform the laborious task of planting rice and getting water into the fields.
The sad thing about the view was the sheer amount of trash in some of the villages. You could have a beautiful house with a yard filled with bags of trash on more than one occasion. Some of the rivers we passed had loads of trash that had been dumped down the embankments.
Once we got to the harbor we waited to get on our boat. After Luc, our guide got our tickets we headed towards the docks. Now the first part of the adventure came. To get to our ferry boat we had to cross about four or five other ships. This meant hopping sides of boats and crossing bows. What an adventure. Once we got on board we motored out to the boat we would be on for the next two days. It was a beautiful boat. We were greeted on deck with hot wash clothes and drinks. Once on board we had an amazing seven coarse lunch that covered all kinds of Vietnamese cuisine. We got to know the other thirteen people on our boat a little better. There were five Ausies, four Brits, two Germans, and a French couple. People from around the world are so interesting to talk to. Two of these couples were taking between six and eight months off and traveling the world. The French couple was living in Seoul for the year. The Ausies were on Holiday.
We got into a discussion regarding the contributing foods of different countries. Apparently Americans are known for their just add water meals. We did some sight seeing of the bay as we talked and enjoyed the scenery. The rocky formations of the bay were beautiful.
The legend that we were told was that a dragon and it's offspring created the rock formations while trying to help Vietnam defend itself in a war.
The trip itself was pretty amazing the food was fabulous and the scenery can not be described with good justice. I was very happy with the cruise company we chose since they reserved a private bay and we got the chance to have piece and quiet among the rocks. Unfortunately, due to overcast skies, we did not see a nice sunrise.
We got back into Hanoi around five. Checked into our hotel, which was about a four on a ten scale and went out to investigate the city.