VIETNAM - Halong Bay -Part 1

I woke up in Hanoi and had yet another lovely roof top breakfast and chatted with my new friend from Turkey and another from Australia. After that I hopped on a private bus to Halong Bay, it was quite nice I must say. Luxury. There was ask a group of guys from London that brought a bunch of donuts on the bus and offered me some. yum! We took a pit stop at this place where I got to see a bunch of women making art by sewing onto cloth intricate designs, very pretty. When I arrived at my hotel in Halong Bay and I realized I had no idea what to do for the days I booked. But after talking with the hotel front desk he sat me down and booked a cruise for me! So I canceled my booking with the hotel and the next day I would set sail for 3 days and 2 nights. I was excited to treat myself. The guy staying here was so nice to me. That night I wanted to explore town but all I found was nothing, and nobody. It was a ghost town. I ordered some pho to warm up my inside but all I got was some weird seafood soup that actually had a rat turd in it which freaked me out so I just left and bought some cookies at the market for my so called “dinner”. Everyone in this town seemed to stare me down and it was actually very eery and scary. So I retreated to my room which was no better because it was so lonely all to myself and very cold. So the next morning I got a ride to the cruise port where I would board the boat at around 12. I thought leaving the hostel at 11:30 would be a good idea but it was not. I was dropped off at around 12:10 at a random stop and the taxi driver handed me a piece of paper on it with a phone number I did not know. I asked around frantically because I thought my boat had already left. I ask help from a man who seemed to work there and he said he would help me and that I should sit down and wait for him. 15 minutes later I saw him crack open a beer with his friends and do nothing. So I got up and walked around the port at the verge of tears thinking I just spent a shit ton of money and it all went to waste. Finally I somehow got directed to the correct port house where the same guy I asked for help in the first place was. And the first place I was dropped off. I felt like an idiot but no one was giving me answers! And then to top it off the guy I asked for help yelled at me for disappearing and not listening to me. So I just waited and it was almost 1. Next thing I know this guy from another boat company had a picture of my passport on my phone and he was saying that I had to go with him and his boat. It was not the company I booked though. But I took the mini boat to his cruise ship and supposedly I got an upgrade from a 3 star boat to a 5 star boat. And I was on time along with everyone else. As soon as we boarded the cruise I ordered the local brewed beer to ease my nerves. Next the crew served us a 5 course lunch. Starting with a light broth soup to warm us up and followed by fresh spring rolls. Next was fried spring rolls and a mang salad. Very tasty! The last course was a local caught fish and vegetables and fruit as dessert. After my second beer I was finally relaxed and I went up to the roof deck where I snapped some pictures as the boat entered the abyss of towering limestone rock formations busting out of the water. We anchored near a small island called “Ti Top” names after a Russian guy that supposedly liked it the most out of all of them and the Vietnamese wanted to make friends with the Russians during this time because of communism so the offered to name it after him. At the beach on the bottom was a big statue of him and then stairs leading up to the top of the tall island. Wasn’t a bad hike and the view at the top overlooked the entire Halong Bay! When I descended I was walking behind a group of Israel guys that asked for me to take pictures of them and then they offered to take pictures of me. I agreed and what I got was a full blown photo shoot for myself because they said I was pretty and he took about 100 photos of me, not even capturing the scenery behind me which is what I wanted. Thought it was kind of funny though. After getting back on the cruise the next task was to go kayaking and swimming. I loved kayaking into the sunset! So quiet and peaceful to watch the sun set behind the islands and having the water current carry me around them. Afterwards we had the opportunity to swim but I opted out because it was FREEZING! But definitly would go back during the warmer months and spend longer here to swim and do other things. When we were all relaxing during our free time I met this really nice, cool couple from Columbia which I spoke mostly Spanish with them. Which was interesting to be speaking in Vietnam. But they kept me company and they loved having me around too! We enjoyed drinks together during happy hour and shared out travel tips with each other. Next was our 5 course dinner which was just as good! We started with a weird seafood jelly like soup... don’t ask about the consistency... it was weird but oddly good tasting. Next was a simple salad with minced fish on a stick... also very weird but good. After that was chicken and more veggies and fruit for dessert again. But Margarita (the Colombian girl) and I wanted dessert... sadly we didn’t get any. Next was KARAOKE! But I didn’t do it, not unless I had a few more drinks. So I went downstairs to my room in the boat and read my book while listening to the horrors of the karaoke upstairs.