Vietnam: Day 2 we went to Ha Long Bay

We booked this boat cruise in Ha Long Bay through the Backpacker's Hostel, so pretty much all the people on the cruise were around our age and were backpackers and had some amazing stories. We met a lot of really cool people, mostly Australians and Europeans, some New Zealanders, some Argentinians, some Canadians, pretty much no Americans. And since Rachelle is Canadian, I was pretty much the only American for most of the trip, kinda strange but cool at the same time. Throughout the whole trip in Vietnam, it was really cool to meet and talk to all the people, hear their stories, and many are coming back through Bangkok so we may see them again. We also collected a lot of their contact info and have kept in contact with a few.

So when we arrived at the dock with all the cool boats, the first thing we see is a large crowd of people and a big cloud of smoke. Yes, this boat had caught fire and was sinking in the harbor. Not a very reassuring sight when you're about to go stay on one just like it overnight. It was also very cold so Rachelle and I immediately bought ourselves some cheap puffy coats that we ended up wearing for pretty much half of the trip.

Boat on fire, sinking in the harbor

With our new coats!

We had 48 people on our little cruise so they tied two boats together and just cruised along and anchored like that. The landscape was amazing. The cliffs were all limestone which reacts with water I think so the rain and the ocean have shaped the cliffs to look the way they are. Once we anchored some people went for a swim, but it was freezing so abstained from that fun, but then a few of us did go kayaking. We saw a cave or two and some fishing villages. These people literally just live out here on the water. It was pretty cool.

Fishing Village

Cave we explored

Our boat was named after me!

This woman would paddle around the bay to all the tourist ships and hassle people to buy her stuff while they were on the boat. The Vietnamese would stop a no odds to sell their stuff to you. In other places on the trip we would be sitting in a restaurant eating dinner and people would come off the street into the restaurant and ask if you wanted to buy their stuff. And they were selling food! I mean seriously, I'm eating and you want to know if I want some of your food? It was a bit ridiculous.

Once we got back to the boat there was dinner and pretty much just organized drinking games already set up. It was a great time. But we had to wake up at 7:30 the next to head back to Hanoi, that part wasn't as fun.