Everyday Im Travelling: Vietnam : 3D2N cruise on Halong Bay

Halong Bay - Feb 2015

3D2N Phoenix Cruise.

We waited at our hotel lobby for the complimentary pick up to Halong Bay~ Journey is around 3-4 hours so prepared to bring lots of snacks otherwise be ready to get chop from the one and only stop.

It was still winter season during early Feb so it was already freaking freezing in Hanoi. I could not imagine how was the weather in the middle of the sea. Totally underestimated the weather~

Finally we reached the dock!

We had to take a speedboat to our cruise.

This was our Phoenix Cruise. This looks well maintained than we thought!

Our twin room! The two bad thing are that they do not have TV (ok maybe no reception) and no wardrobe. Other than that, we were very satisfied especially the cleanliness!

Toilet

Walkway just outside our rooms.

Rooftop. Nobody because it was freezing cold.. lol weather forecast said only 12 degree celsius but we felt it was lying.

After settling down our luggage, our cruise brought us to our first stop - Sung Sot Cave. While we were on our way to Sung Sot Cave, our tour guide told us a little bit history of Halong Bay.

"Ha Long Bay" means "Bay of Descending Dragons" (in chinese: 下龍灣). Long long ago, the gods from heaven sent dragons to help defend from foreign invaders from the north. When the dragons were descending, they spit jewels and jades which immediately turned into limestones upon hitting the sea. These limestones formed a fortress against the invaders.

Stone steps towards the mouth of the cave.

This is the biggest cave I have been. Ok lah, I only been to the bat cave in Malaysia before this.

This is the deepest point where they called as“royal garden”. Similar to other palace, this appears to has a clear pond and a fascinating landscape of small mountains

This turtle lookalike has a saying : It gives good luck to those touches its head.

Sung Sot cave is the most famous and the most spectacular cave in Halong Bay which is in the centre of the UNESCO World Heritage area.

Our next destination: Ti Top island.

What an amazing view at the beach!

We could also climb the stairs up to the top of the mountain to see panoramic scenary.

Pretty cool, isn't it? Winter mist please go away.

We proceeded back to our cruise after this for our dinner and night prawning later~

We had some time to spare before dinner so we went to the rooftop to chill and take pictures.

Fooled around on the rooftop where nobody was there. Apparently, balancing on the sea is very hard to maintain.

Our dinner! The dishes repeated themselves for the next two days too.

This is how it looks at night.

Second day~

Our breakfast! It did not has a wide variety but good enough already. #samebreakfasttomorrowtoo

We had to take another boat for about 2-3 hours away from the overcrowded water area to the Southern end of Halong bay where we can kayak around the limestones. Initially, I was a little afraid that the kayak would not be stable but I was totally relieved when I saw the sea was very calm.

We were initially a little worried that the weather would be too cold to kayak but it seemed quite ok after we started to move our oars.

Group pic before we start!

This is quite a #yolo for me who does not know how to swim to kayak in the middle of the sea. Bf gave me lots of security as he is so damn good on kayaking. I pretty much sitting in front lying back and enjoying the scenery lol!

The most hardworking person behind. I gave him my towel as his reward lol

Then our tour guide brought us through this narrow canal to the gorgeous shallow shore.

It was really shallow that we had to push against the rocks to move forward.

Then we took a short break. That was our tour guide on the left helping the little girls to stop the kayak. He was a very humble person and we really liked him alot.

Then we continued to kayak through caves. Every time we got past a cave, it is as if we have gone to another paradise. Definitely the best way to feel the beauty of the lime stones in Halong Bay that could not be seen from the cruises. The atmosphere was so serene and soothing as if the whole sea belongs to you.

Let's go explore together~ You and me~

Yays~

Mobile convenience stall lol

Private beach in the middle of nowhere.

Our shag faces~

Back to the boat for lunch while heading back to the main cruise. We were very dumb enough not to bring extra clothing. Our clothes were already drenched when we kayaked and the freezing weather made it worse! We were practically shivering the whole journey back..... #smartass