Ha Long Bay

Doctor Le had told me that Ha Long Bay was a must when going to Vietnam if visiting Hanoi. I had seen a few pictures and was afraid that this could be yet another tourist trap of the worst kind.
We bought tickets through our hotel, the manager was really nice explaining everything to us carefully and promised it was high quality. We took her word for it and booked a 2 day/1 night cruise and hoped for the best.
We were picked up as the first guests and was told immediately not to discuss the price we paid with the rest of the guests, as we had gotten a deep discount - the tour organizer was apparently good friends with the hotel owner, that paid off. A smaller boat came and picked us up in the harbor and we sailed out to the waiting ship in the bay.
Looked quite nice from the distance and did not disappoint up close either. We had booked the middle priced tour, but ended up being bumped up to deluxe class. The cabin on board was probably in the top 5 of hotel rooms I ever stayed in. Except that we had the cabin closest to the engine room. Lunch was served after half an hour and was super good. I guess this is was the moment when we started ordering drinks, something the bartender onboard liked, two thirsty Danish guys. The drinks were not included and were a little on the expensive side, half price of a regular San Diego bar, but hey, it is not everyday I get to go to Ha Long Bay.

The boat took us around the bay, which consists of other things than water, island sticking up of the water like the body of a dragon, hence the name which means Diving Dragon. I had seen pictures of the the boats in the bay, but that is one of those things that can not be explained, but needs to be seen. Late in the afternoon we made a stop close to an island, and the little boat took us to the island itself. The island had a huge cave inside of dripstone, which formed big pillars from the bottom up, quite amazing to see. After touring the cave we were thrown into a bunch of kayaks and now we could explore the islands ourselves up close. Not everyone had ever tried to kayak, that was clear, haha. We swooped around the island, finding places no man had ever gone before, I am sure of that. There were people with small shop in a rowboat offering everything from beer to snacks on the water. Unfortunately we left the money on the ship, no money, no beer, arghhh! Back on the ship we sailed for another hours time eenjoying the quite stunning sunset in Ha Long bay while jumping off the boat's upper deck into the water. The cameras on the boat were going crazy.
It was dinner time and the food was even better than lunch. It was Hyunju's birthday, they made her a special dessert and people from all over the world was singing her a birthday song. Cocktails and beer were plenty and people started to get to know each other a little better. Interesting how people were all more or less in the same situation discussing tips and tricks about future and past destinations, pretty cool. We tried to catch some squid, but after an hour or so, we discovered that the dishing pole we had been using had no hook, only the lure, haha. Ok, back to the bar.
Around too many drinks past midnight it was time for bed, the only sound out there was the tiny waves making soft sounds against the ship.
Our guide, Lucky, had told us to wake up at 6 to see the sunset, I had set the alarm to 6, just to find out that the sun was already up. Quite amazing to wake up to such silence far away from water, especially a contrast coming from Hong Kong and Hanoi.
We got to go to another small cave, much smaller than the other one, but this time everything was so close. Nothing lasts forever and we had to go back to shore again which took 2-3 hours. A lunch was served in a restaurant onshore, the food was horrible compared to what we had been served on the ship. That was kind of a sad ending of the trip, but it just makes the memory of the ship on the bay so much better.
I have to agree with Doctor Le, the Ha Long bay is definitely something to try out if visiting Hanoi, and if you get some sunshine and clear sky at night, you are in for a treat.