Halong Bay by Ghost Ship

we had one night in hanoi again between our sapa and halong bay tours. the next morning we got up early to catch our transportation from hanoi to halong city on the coast. about a three hour van ride. we were greeted by our tour guide (steven) once we got to the pier area. he informed us we had to wait for one more couple before we boarded the ship. everyone else had been directed elsewhere because they had booked different boats and tours.

**note of interest is that my new hairdresser here in calgary is from halong city. :)

**another note of interest: roel decided that he wanted to do this trip in the luxury boat since we have been staying at lower end places for a while now. we paid big bucks for our 24 hour trip!

our fellow tourmates arrived and steven brought us to our private boat. wait a minute...what?! just four of us on the boat?? i thought we booked a big cruise ship. steven said that since there were only four of us they had upgraded us to a private boat seeing as though it's cheaper for the tour operator. we were very excited. five employees and four guests. haha!
unfortunately the old english couple we were with were NOT happy and refused to let the ship depart because they had no interest in spending time on the small boat. they wanted the big boat or a refund. after almost two hours of haggling (while roel and i were on the upper deck enjoying the best seafood of our lives) we were told we were moving to the big boat.

we couldn't believe it. four of us for a giant junk boat which takes over 40 employees to operate when at capacity (i would guess there were about 20-25 employees on board for our cruise). an adventure already and we hadn't even left the harbour.

back to our meal on the small ship first: one whole fresh crab each with a salty citrus dipping sauce, a squid and veggie stir fry which was so good i can't even describe, a very large and tasty grilled fresh fish (i was too busy stuffing my face to ask what kind it was), spring rolls, fresh shrimp...we couldn't move after that feast. best food ever.

back to the big boat...once the ship started moving we ran around each level like little kids exploring a church after a sunday fundraising lunch. we couldn't stop laughing...it was just so bizarre. a whole ship almost entirely to ourselves! we settled on the top deck and just lay on the loungers looking at the jigsaw cutout limestone cliffs jutting out from the south china sea imagining how it would have looked as deep sea underwater millions of years ago.

after we had a chance to settle in steven offered to take us on a quick kayak tour. our beloved travel companions were older and not in shape to join us. we were fine with that. if we had to choose trip highlights this definitely makes top 5. this is an instance where pictures can't possibly do justice.













when we got back to the mothership it was a chance for us to jump in the water. it was a brilliant green with a slightly milky quality which i'm sure is an effect of all the limestone. it was colder than the ocean in vancouver in summer. that's pretty cold. same body of water that we swam in in mui ne and nha trang (see earlier posts) but different climate and currents. the crew gathered round to watch the crazy tourists jump in..at the time we didn't know these waters were jellyfish infested. steven told us after as he didn't want to dampen our spirits. he was watching us from the top of the ship scouting for any in the vicinity. at the time we were wondering why he was perched so attentively. haha


we had a great dinner later. fancy presentation, 5 gourmet courses. another highlight. after dark steven got us from our room and we tried our luck at squid fishing from the back of the boat (same place we swam from). the crew set-up a giant spotlight into the water (apparently this attracts the squid) and we kept dipping our lines in and out of the water. steven caught one but we were empty handed.

we were early to bed and woke up in time for morning thai chai on the upper deck and then had a great breakfast. we were on our way to the 'amazing cave'. mountains of limestone on the outside, hollowed out caverns on the inside. full of tourists from other cruises but definitely worth the stop. the cave was backlit with different coloured lights. pretty and almost kitschy.

after we taxi'd back to our ship we were bound for land. we made our connecting ride back to hanoi where we would have two more nights before flying to thailand.