Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

Our next stop was Vietnam. We flew into Hanoi, Vietnam, which is the capital of Vietnam but only the second largest city. Ho Chi Minh City is the largest.

Vietnam is really inexpensive making it easy to afford almost anything. We spent the day and Hanoi and then woke up early the next morning and took a bus to Ha Long Bay.

Because Vietnam was so inexpensive we were able to order the Luxury Junk for a few days, which means this lovely boat was just for the six of us. It was also equipped with a full staff that cooked our meals, cleaned our rooms, and shuttled us around. It was the ultimate Lake Powell house boat adventure.

We were welcomed with a nice rose center piece, and a lovely lunch full of healthy local foods.

We had a driver and tour guide from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay and back. We were able to talk to him a lot about his culture and learned a ton of interesting new facts.

At one point my dad was asking about The Vietnam War against the U.S. It was fascinating to hear his take on it. My entire life I'd heard about the war and how the U.S. shouldn't have been a part of it and how bad it was. It really is a low point in U.S. history. In Vietnam history he made it sound like it was extremely insignificant. He talked about how Vietnam has been at war with China forever and how they are always fighting to remain independent and free. He made it sound like the war with the U.S. was the least of their worries, since they are always looking over their back for China. They don't really talk about the U.S. war because compared to the rest of their wars it was tiny. I don't know if that is how all Vietnamese feel, but it was interesting hearing that take from our driver.

We also talked a lot about Buddhism and more specifically Mahayana Buddhism and how it differs from Theravada Buddhism. It was super cool learning more about the differences and how it results in the different practices. I always get mixed up about who practices what where, and he helped solidify it in my mind.

Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it is the main reason we were going to Vietnam. It is such a unique landscape and absolutely worth seeing.

Ha Long Bay wasn't exactly what I had expected. I expected it to be tropical with blue waters that invited you to swim in. It wasn't that at all. The weather was overcast the majority of the time we were there, and the location was very poorly taken care of. It is the only place I've ever been that has the ocean littered with garbage everywhere. You would often pass very large floating rivers of trash. We went kayaking a few times and you would find hidden trash around every corner, stuck in every cove. In one cove we came across huge plastic containers, nets, tires, and lots of wood. It was absolutely ridiculous that such a beautiful site was so poorly taken care of. 

One of the highlights of Ha Long Bay was the Dau Go Cave. Not only was the cave absolutely enormous, but it offered amazing views of the bay on the walk up to it. It definitely was a tourist destination though. It was packed with others getting shuttled along the walkways, but it is what I expected from such a popular location.

My very favorite part was kayaking around the bay. I loved being able to explore wherever we wanted, and find little caves and nooks. Unfortunately this is also how we found a lot more garbage.

We also swam around and jumped off of our boat even though the water grossed you out a little.

Even my mom and dad came out with us for a bit and kayaked.

Another stop we made was at the pearl farm. I'm still extremely confused on which pearls are natural, if any, but it was fascinating learning more about how pearls are created.

Our last night we had a cooking class on the boat and they taught us how to make really good vegetable rolls. They then served us a HUGE dinner of fresh seafood. Some of it was extremely delicious where as other parts of it left a lot to be desired.

My family doesn't really like clams. I felt bad waisting it all so I ate way more clams and squid than I normally would. They weren't that good, but the crab and lobster was amazing!

We ate the last meal on the top deck, outside, in the perfect temperature weather. It was very beautiful and relaxing. The luxury junk was so much fun and ended up being a highlight of our trip. It turned out way better than I had imagined when I booked it, and it was well worth our time and money.