Day One
In the morning, Nico, Kristen, Josh, and I got on-board our tourist bus (that was a little overpriced) that we'd booked through our hostel and began our journey to Halong Bay. When we arrived, however, the bus dropped us off nowhere near town. Instead, we found ourselves way out by the docks where tour companies tried to get us to pay for boat tours (I think a lot of people on the tourist bus were just here for day trips, or else were spending the night on their tour boats).
From there we, regrettably, had to take an overpriced car back towards town to check into our Airbnb. The apartment that we stayed at was lovely! It had a nice view of the ocean; the limestone peaks of Halong Bay just visible on the horizon.
After settling in, we decided to get a late lunch/early dinner. We found a place on TripAdvisor called Wander Station. It was across town so we took a taxi to get there. When we arrived, a man at the restaurant let us know that unfortunately the chef wouldn't come in until later but could offer us drinks now. We were all pretty hungry so we declined and began to walk down the street to look for somewhere else to eat.
A minute later, the guy came running down the sidewalk after us. He said his chef would be willing to come in early if we'd be okay waiting 30 minutes. We agreed, stoked to have at least one option for food as the rest of the street looked pretty bare.
In the end, I was so happy the chef was able to come in early because the food was amazing. I ordered Bo lúc lâc bánh my, which was diced, sauteed beef with bread. Nico, Kristen, and Josh all ordered noodle soups. They had Bún bò giò heo and Bún thâp câm.
After lunch, we walked around a bit. There was a nice path down by the water's edge, giving us a good view of the rock formations in the bay and the harbor full of fishing boats.
Later that evening, after relaxing in the apartment for a little, we decided to walk out and find dinner nearby. This turned out to be a bit of a challenge as most shops close by didn't serve food and nobody spoke English. After one unsuccessful attempt at a place with no menu, we decided to take a taxi closer to town. Even though our driver used the meter, he still tried to charge us double. This left a bad taste in my mouth as we tried to find a place for dinner.
We eventually chose a restaurant because it had a lot of people sitting out front. When we sat down, however, we noticed the menu was only in Vietnamese. Luckily, the waitress helped us out by opening Google Translate on Kristen's phone. and suggesting a few items for us to order. She kept asking if we wanted to order grilled corn, which is funny to us. In the end, we got stir fried veggies (mostly cabbage), beef stir fry, and a whole chicken (yup). The beef was my favorite dish. I also liked the sauce on the cabbage and the flavor of the chicken, although, it was kind of tough.
After dinner, Nico and I decided to walk home and we all hung out for a bit before going to bed.
Day Two
This morning we woke up early and headed downstairs to wait for our bus to pick us up. We got a few snacks for "breakfast" from the mini mart. The bus took us to the marina where we all boarded a "junk boat" and set out into the bay. Soon into our trip, we came upon the limestone rock formations Halong Bay is known for. It was a very beautiful sight to see. Our tour guides pointed out specific formations such as "Fighting Cocks" and others.
Eventually, it came time to get off the boat and explore a cave. This was definitely the most touristy and crowded aspect of the day. The cave had a paved walkway and colorful lights installed against the walls. Shuffling through behind a line of people had the resemblance of being at an attraction in a theme park. There was, however, a nice view after we walked through the cave.
After the caves, we were back on the boat for lunch, which was okay. There was a decent amount of fishy seafood. I liked a tofu dish the best.
After lunch, the boat stopped and we were given the choice of kayaking or riding a bamboo boat. We all chose to kayak (which was definitely the better choice). We paddled the boats out toward a limestone island and into a cave at its side. The cave opened up to this beautiful pool in the middle of the island. Limestone walls covered in jungle trees surrounded us at every side. To the right, monkeys were playing on the rocks. We paddled over to see them and then continued to paddle around the grotto for the rest of our time.
Once back on the boat, we sailed to an island with a beach and some swimming. This wasn't as busy as I thought it'd be (thank god). I guess the tour companies have figured out a good way to stagger the boats of people as they come to the beach. The island (called Titop Island) actually had a really lovely view at the top after a short, sweaty hike up some stairs. The tour brochure referred to this part of the trip as "hike to the top of Titop Island and take the nice," so, naturally, we called the view "the nice" the whole way up. After taking the nice, we headed back down to the beach to swim.
After the boat tour, the bus dropped us back off at our Airbnb. We all showered and relaxed for a bit. I did note that my swimsuit smelt pretty bad after my swim. Halong Bay doesn't have the cleanest water I noticed.
That evening, we headed to the touristy downtown area to talk to a hostel about booking a bus back to Hanoi. The woman who worked at the hostel was very friendly and told us we wouldn't need to book a ticket ahead of time. She recommended just going to the local bus station in the morning. We also asked her where a good place to eat was and she pointed us to a noodle place across the street and said, "the fat lady will make you good food."
Turns out, she was right. Our beef noodles were delicious. The lady cooking them, however, was just slightly big but maybe she could be considered fat in Vietnamese standards.
Day Three
In the morning of our last day in Halong Bay, we slowly began to pack our things. Kristen and Josh left a little earlier than me & Nico since they needed to be back in Hanoi in time to catch a flight.
Nico and I had a loose plan to take the overnight train to Sapa, but after looking at tickets online, we realized we were too late. We decided to make new plans once we arrived back in Hanoi. So, we took a taxi to the bus station and as soon as we stepped out of the cab, a man ran at us, yelling to get in the bus (which appeared to already be on its way out of the station). He swiftly grabbed our things and Nico and I ran with him to the bus. We were on our way after what was definitely the quickest bus station experience I'd ever had.
When we unloaded off the bus in Hanoi, we were suddenly surrounded by a group of men asking if we wanted to get on their motorbikes. Even though I told them "no" countless times, they still kept a semi-circle around us as we tried to get our stuff organized.
From the Hanoi Station, we walked to a KFC for the wifi to hail an Uber to the hostel we'd previously stayed at in the Old Quarter. The plan now was to try and take the next available bus to Ninh Binh or else stay in Hanoi another night and try to get to Sapa or Ninh Binh the next day. Luckily, a bus was available to take us to Ninh Binh and it picked us up from the hostel soon after we booked it.
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