Halong Bay

During our time in Hanoi we spent two days in Halong Bay which is east of the city.  It is by far one of the most famous things to do, and probably one of the most beautiful in the area.  We decided to take a cruise using Galaxy cruise lines, although this was a little more expensive we were told the splurge was worth it!  And it was!  I bought the tickets (Joel's was his birthday gift!) and we headed to Halong!  We got picked up in a mini-van with around 14 other people, our cruise companions for the next two days and drove the four hours to our ship.  Around noon we hopped on the ship and started our adventure!  The weather was great and the ship was amazing!

Enjoying Some Time in the Sun!

The Food Was Amazing 

The crew that we were with were truly awesome!  The food was great, the company was great, and they really went out of their ways to make it a good experience for others!  A couple on the ship had a birthday for example and they bought a cake for them and sang Happy Birthday which was so sweet.  (Plus we all got cake, so that was definitely a bonus!)

Our First View of the Amazing Ship

Wearing Life Jackets to be Safe!

 Our first stop after lunch on the ship and dropping of our stuff were the caves.  It was this really cool location where underground caves had been discovered.  Very impressive and extensive!  We actually liked it WAY more than we thought we would.

Heading to the Caves in Our Smaller Boat

Cool Formations!

Really Big Caves!

At one point you climbed up stairs in the caves and ended up at the top of one of the rock formations looking out on the water!  What an amazing view!

View From the Top!

 After the caves we spent some time hanging out on the ship while it sailed to the next location!  It was definitely hot, and I had to spend some time in the shade!

Suntanning?

 We then made it to our second location where we could hike or swim.  Well both Joel and I chose to "hike" and I use this world loosely as we timed our 'hike' and it only took about 8 min!  So not too hard.  But cool views from the top!

View From Our 'Hike' Location

All the Ships in the Water

So Many Rock Formations!

Taking A Break After All that Hiking!

 We then headed back to the ship for the sunset and some delicious dinner!

View From Our Room!

Sunset in Halong Bay!

 After dinner, night had fallen so we spent some time on the top of the ship looking at all the other ships!  There were tons out there and the lights were beautiful!  We also tried our hand at some squid fishing, which was cool, although we didn't actually catch anything!

Blurry Night Photo

 The next morning was early as we awoke for breakfast and then some more sailing around, this time even Rammy Ram came out for some fun in the sun!

He Was Looking A Little Pale, Some Sun Will Be Good!

We then hopped into some kayaks and played in the water for a while!

Some Sort of Cave!

Pretty Cool!

Finally as lunch approached we headed back to the dock to catch our ride back to Hanoi!  But not before seeing some more beautiful sights!

Halong Bay, Really Amazing!

Couldn't Have Asked For Better Weather!

We still had two more days in Hanoi and then it is off to Japan!