Cruisin' in Halong Bay

Halong Bay is our very first visit to a UNESCO site. It is a beautiful bay (obvious, I know) that is made up of 1,969 limestone islands that variess in size and are probably one of the most breathtaking things we have ever seen.

After a delicious breakfast at our hotel (Pho and stirfry noodles…yes please!), we were greeted by our amazing tour guide, Hui. Hui made the four hour bus ride to Halong Bay quite enjoyable by telling us many things about himself, Vietnamese culture and our Halong Bay destination. Hui is originally from a mountain-side town about 30km outside of Hanoi. He described his unique upbringing and amazing family. He shared a story that made us all laugh and will definitely be something we never forget. Like most Vietnamese men, his father drinks rice wine quite often. Since Hui has moved away from home and only visits about once a month, he tries to bring his father gifts whenever he can. He described one story in which he brought Johnny Walker, Red Label Scotch and it was a huge hit with his father. Now, every time Hui goes home, his father’s first question to him is “Where is my Johnny?”. Needless to say, we all loved it and Johnny is now Hui’s nickname.

Driving from Hanoi to Halong Bay reminded me a lot of some of the roads in Syria actually…something I definitely did not see coming. The building structures are similar and the random towns and shops have a lot of similarities. After about 4.5 hours on the bus, we finally made it to Halong Bay. When you first arrive, you just see a bunch of dingy boats that bring all of the passengers onto the cruises. So we hoped on our little boat and made our way to “Galaxy Cruise”. The boat itself was very nice and honestly, a heck of a lot better than we were expecting. So we got settled into our cabin and cranked up the AC. Let’s just say that we have not stopped sweating since we got off the airplane in Hanoi. Humidity has a whole new meaning to us here.

While on the boat, we spent quite a bit of time up on the main deck just taking in the view. It was quite a bit cloudy the first day but that didn’t stop us from being completely in awe. No picture or description will be able to describe what we saw all around us. In every moment, you truly feel like you are witnessing one of God’s greatest creations and feel a certain amount of peace and serenity that is impossible to describe (if you can get past that you are completely drenched from head to toe of course).

Our activities included visiting one of the many caves in Halong Bay as well as hiking to the top of one of the rocks to get an amazing view of the bay! And the hike up was no joke friends…so excuse the way we look.

Even though the cave, view point and swimming area were a little bit crowded, we really appreciated that they only let visitors go to parts of Halong Bay. They truly are doing their best to preserve the site.

While swimming and taking in the view, Kyle found another opportunity to use the GoPro which actually turned out awesome. It might be another thing that adds to our bags…but so beyond worth it! 

After swimming, we honestly didn’t think that the day could get any better or we could see anything else that would top this part of the trip….but then it did. Within the bay, there are various floating, fishing villages where generations of people literally live on the bay. As we were heading back to the main boat, we came across one of the fishing villages and while the villages is amazing, it was what was happening in front of it that was the best. A three year old boy was in his own little row boat making his way around the village. It was beyond adorable and of course, we all had to stop to capture the moment.

After our long day, we made our way back up to the main deck to watch the sunset (one of our favorite things to do) and trust us, it did not disappoint.

The sunset left us longing for more, so we decided that we would absolutely be waking up for the sunrise. This whole jet lag thing was a blessing in disguise for this because we were both naturally up around 4:45am. While watching the sunrise, we realized that 9 out of 10 times you hear people talking about sunsets but there is actually something more romantic and inspiring about a sunrise. You have the sense of looking into the future and being excited about what lies ahead instead of what lies behind. Welcome to the thoughts of Sammar Simmons. Moving along now.

After feeling inspired, we kept the ball rolling by doing Thai Chi with Hui. Neither of us had ever done it before and it is actually a very beautiful and relaxing practice. Hui explained the meanings behind the moves and how everything is centered around transferring and building energy. Another big part is doing it gracefully and we definitely did not hit the mark on that…but hey, we tried!

We finished our time in Halong Bay with an hour kayak ride…something Kyle and I actually do quite well together when I’m not trying to tell him which way to go…sounds similar to when we are in the car. Kidding, well kind of. Kayaking was the perfect ending to an incredible two days.

We are leaving Halong Bay completely at peace and ready for our time in Sapa. Let the breathtaking views, food, culture and people continue.

Southeast Asia