After finishing up at the pearl farm, we headed to the cruise ship dock to take a dingy to the boat. It was about a 30 minute ride to the boat and once aboard we were served an amazing, gourmet lunch while viewing the sites of Ha Long Bay. After lunch we checked out our rooms and changed to swimsuits! Dad, mom, and Abby decided to go kayaking around the islands and Allison stayed on board to swim with Isla. The kayaking was tougher than we thought it would be considering the strong current in the water but it was so neat to get a closer look at the islands around the boat. Abigail even "fell" out of the boat to try out the water! We later found out it was jellyfish season so we're lucky she didn't get stung! Meanwhile, on board Allison enjoyed her afternoon swimming.
The afternoon activities were followed by dinner, we were able to choose between a Vietnamese dinner and a Western dinner. Abigail and Isla chose a Western dinner and the rest of us chose a Vietnamese dinner. Food was amazing and our butler explained what each dish was. We were truly surprised we enjoyed it as much as we did. Even Allison loved the food! After dinner, there was a special surprise in honor of Abigail's birthday. The crew sang happy birthday to her in Vietnamese and gave her a special cake and roses. She was surprised and we think she enjoyed it a lot.
The following day we got up pretty early, had breakfast, and let the girls swim before we headed out for our tour of Cat Ba Island, this is the largest of all the islands in Ha Long Bay. Its intricate cave systems were used by Viet Cong during Vietnam war to provide cover to their soldiers and serve as a hospital for injured soldiers. We were able to hike in the Cat Ba national forest and explored one of the larger cave systems known as Trung Trang cave. It was very, very humid! By the time we were finished with the hike and returned to our golf cart we were all soaked with sweat. After the hiking we visit an authentic wet market and were served more Vietnamese food. As we had just eaten before starting our adventure none of us were very hungry but we still enjoyed the food. On our return to the boat was eventful to say the least. First, we stopped at a beach. It was definitely not the type of beach we're used to...there was quite a bit of trash and debris so none of us got in the water (or even took off our shoes!). We turned up our American noses to this. Then after leaving the beach, our cart broke down in the middle of the road, right after a large curve! Fun fact: they don't use flairs in Vietnam to alert others to a broken down vehicle, they use large tree branches the pull off the trees! Although our tour of Cat Ba was amazing and exciting, we were glad to make it back to the boat to enjoy another Vietnamese dinner. This time all of us ordered the Vietnamese menu and we all loved it! After dinner on the 2nd day, Allison and Isla went night fishing for squid. Unfortunately, they didn't catch anything but they did enjoy sitting on the back of the boat.
Our 3rd and final day was a leisure day, we decided not to take part in the off ship activity and instead went swimming and began packing up to leave. The girls even had a mini spa day complete with a foot and neck massage. They loved it and are hooked on massages now! Dat picked us up after we disembarked at the dock and took us back to Hanoi for our flight to Bangkok. On the way back to Hanoi we stopped a silk farm where they raise silk worms and use the silk to create silk paintings. These paintings were beautiful and intricate with some taking more than 6 months to make. The girls both picked out a painting to take home (they have good taste!). Finally, we made it to the Hanoi airport to catch our flight to Bangkok! Vietnam really surprised us, we didn't expect to enjoy it as much as we did but it was incredibly beautiful, the people were very nice, and the food was great. The adventure continues!
Much Love,
Moises & Jennifer
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