Halong Bay

  I am now writing to you from the Phong Nha farmstay, much further south than Hanoi. More on that later though. This post will be dedicated to the two days and one night spent aboard the Caitlyn Cruiser, a 'budget' option purchased through our hostel that was $80- including meals (a lunch upon arrival on the boat, dinner that night, breakfast), an air-con bus to and from the pier, entrance to the Hang Sung Sot cave and a nearby beach, and kayaking around the bay for an hour.
  

8/13/2012--
   We had beautiful weather the entire time we were on the bay, getting to sit on the upper deck and read on the way to our first stop- the cave previously mentioned. Our "English speaking" tour guide was extremely knowledgable, however understanding his accent and him translating correctly proved to be challenging. I got hundreds of awesome pictures but still feel uninformed about the caves sadly.

    We then hopped back on the boat to go to a kayaking stop about 100 meters away, having an hour to kayak around the bay. MK and I quickly wore our arms out but powered through as a passing cruiser shouted at us, "go for the gold!"
    Our last activity of the day was a beach stop that turned into a gorgeous sunset photoshoot.

8/14/2012--
   This was our second and final day in Halong Bay, and we started with a bang. Setting our alarms for 520 AM to catch a 530 sunrise we rolled out of bed and found a spot on deck to prop up and capture the beautiful scenery, turned orange-gold from the sun.

   Immediately returning to sleep and waking up again for 7 AM breakfast of bread and apples. We spent the day lounging on the upper deck reading and getting some sun.

    We again spent the night at Hanoi Backpackers and found ourselves at NewDay restaurant (another Lonely Planet recommendation). We were seated in a small room where a group of especially rowdy Vietnamese sat and spent our dinner listening to them yell, scream, and shake fists- although no one appeared angry. Definitely a shock from the quiet and respectful Thai culture. Nevertheless, our dinner of rice noodles and beef was delicious.