27 September 2015 –
Today we're heading from Hanoi to Halong Bay. After doing a fair bit of research I settled on the Dragon Legend overnight cruise. The fee for the cruise conveniently also included transportation from Hanoi to HaLong Bay.
So here are a few photos of us passing through Hanoi:
Busy, frenetic, and alive…that's how I would describe Hanoi:
Vietnamese countryside:
We had a short stop at this odd tourist trap:
It appears that this souvenir shop is staffed by special needs individual artists….like people in wheelchairs.
Here are some expensive embroideries….sadly they're too rich for our blood (meaning they're expensive):
Jade???
We're back in the van after that short stop. Even though it was a vast souvenir shop I couldn't find anything I really wanted. Plus, many of the items were too expensive for us….even if they were made by special needs people.
See all those boats? Guess where we are??? (Hint: Halong Bay)
After hanging out in a waiting room for about an hour …they're finally leading us out to our boat.
Which boat is our boat???
I think I spy our boat!
WOW! That's our boat????
Waiting for our room assignments and getting a run-down of the events prior to departure:
We have Mr. Long and Mr. Ha (Ha Long…get it??? LOL!) who will be taking care of us on our cruise. Here's a quick run-down of our trip:
It was either Mr. Ha or Mr. Long that told us that Halong actually means "descending dragon" (long means dragon…which, I'm sure it's not coincidental, is also the Chinese word for dragon. Considering that these two countries share a border – it's no surprise there are some similarities in language and culture.)
We've got two inter-connecting rooms. And, WOW! Our room is GORGEOUS! Our rooms are on the third deck.
And huge! (Just behind Ava is our bathroom)
Ava in our bathroom:
With a giant bath tub!
Let's go check out this boat!
The back of the boat:
Exercise equipment?!?
*
Just walking around on the various decks.
Halong Bay!
Dragon Legend:
Hanging out on the lounge chairs on the upper most deck:
We're on our way to a beach to go kayaking!
Sooooo…..
Kayaking was amusing. The kayaks were quite sensitive- and we nearly tipped over a few times. Mark and I shared a kayak and Ava and Annika went cruising in a different kayak. They were zooming and zipping in their kayak. However, since our kayak was tippy we didn't take any photos while trying to stay upright while kayaking. After kayaking we had free time to spend swimming at the beach:
See that boat? There are two Dragon Legend boats. We're on #1, which is just a one-night cruise. The boat pictured below is #2 and it goes out on two-night cruises. (just to give you a tip now: book two nights instead of one night! One night just wasn't long enough to explore this awesome bay! Enough said…regardless, we had fun.)
Mark and I got massage after our kayaking excursion. Aaaaaahhhhhhhh…..Now I can really relax.
It's time for dinner!
Tropical drinks before Ddnner out on the deck:
Ava and I explored more of the boat:
Annika and Mark browsing our set dinner menu. Can't wait to see what they'll serve us!
The girls playing in their room:
Good night! I'm hoping to fall fast asleep after these past two eventful days!
***
Got up EARLY to 1) take more photos of this incredibly beautiful and serene scenery and 2) participate in a beginner tai chi class to be held on the upper deck. Are you going to try tai chi with me and Mark??? Please come! I'm sure it'll be hilarious!
But first: a few photos:
See you in the next post!