Typhoon Problems: Halong Bay Edition

Our last morning in Hanoi we were woken up by men moving piles of bricks below our balcony at 2:45 a.m. followed by 6:30 a.m. political rants/bizarre music being broadcast on the loudspeakers lining the streets and a lone rooster crowing in between. But this was OK we were heading to Halong Bay, what was sure to be the highlight of our trip!

happy

This was THE excursion we were most looking forward to! To sail through emerald waters surrounded by massive limestone cliffs of a UNESCO World Heritage Site should be on anyones bucket list afterall. We decided on a 2 day trip aboard this old restored treasure junk boat that would house only 10 people max and were so ready to sail the 7 seas (not quite that far, but you get the picture).

amazing

Got picked up in a flashy, decked out Luxury Van (not being pretentious, it literally said luxury van on the outside(!), picked up 4 Aussies and we were on our way. About a four hour drive to the coast was split with a pit-stop at a marble sculpture garden. We opted not to buy the 200 pound marble tiger though.

giddy up

Arrived at the harbor and met the last few guys from New Zealand that would round out our group of 9 we would spend the next couple of days with. Side note: these 3 guys were only 20 and already in their third year of medical school. Ummm what??! At 20 I was waking up with taco bell hot sauce packets stuck to my cheek after a rough night. Clearly the American education system has failed me!!!

let's go!

safety first

our treasure junk

Got into a tiny motor boat that brought us to our anchored junk boat, our home for the next couple of days. It was gorgeous, complete with sun deck lounges, a bar and dining area. Our room was awesome, we had silk robes waiting for us in the closet and the shower had a peephole to the ocean. We couldn't have asked for better people to be with on this excursion, everyone was super nice, funny and had interesting lives to talk about. Time to party!

fishing boat

sundeck

ominous skies

karst formation

We set sail through the misty and extremely humid Halong Bay and were promptly served lunch on the outdoor deck. Holy Vietnamese-seafood-pig-out. I lost track of the amount of courses that were placed in front of us but every bit of it was amazing. Shrimp soup, squid, clams, sea bass and a cute, scrumptious baby crab, you name it we were served it.

pleased to eat you

dining al fresco at it's best

croakie lover

Fat and happy we sailed out to a beach island where we did a bit of cave exploration, swimming in the absurdly warm water and finally some sea kayaking. Kayaking around the bay, we were SO happy and thankful in that moment.

stoked

super coordinated

the crew

barges

private beach

ancient cave

paradise

birds eye view

teamwork

kayaking the karsts

We both said this was the exact experience we were hoping for, the food, the sights, cool new people to hang out with...and literally two minutes after we said that we kayaked back to the beach and were told some pretty shitty news....there was a typhoon coming and we had to go back to the port. Like now. Like party is over...*crying inside ensues. Hmphhhh.

Sailing back, the disappointment was more than evident in the 9 of us. Talk about a buzzkill. I wanted to just throw my Singapore Sling right into the bay! We were supposed to visit a fish farm and floating villages, fish for squid at dusk, check out a pearl farm, celebrate with new friends, and feast on who knows how many more courses of delicious local foods. The highlight of our trip will never be unfortunately.

local fisherman

heading back

pre-thyphoon

sad to leave, but still handsome <3

We were supposed to fly out of the port area city after the boat excursion ended in a couple of days but the storm quickly came on and the power went out in the entire city. It was super creepy looking so we opted to go back the 4 hours to Hanoi, ditch our plane ticket, find a hotel for the night and regroup.

Back in Hanoi we drowned our sorrows in some bia hoi while sitting in the rain, followed by a late night world cup match in a smoky pub and decided we should just be thankful we at least got to see Halong Bay, if not for a short time. I think we are still trying to convince ourselves this though.

Next up, the charming little city of Hoi An...and the not so charming breath of our cab driver to the airport! Woof!