Halong Bay, Vietnam: 3,000 Islands & Death by Banana Boat

The 3 day, 2 night boat cruise in Halong bay was incredible (we booked it through our hostel, Hanoi Backpackers..the only way to go). The scenery was the most remarkable sight I have ever seen. Halong Bay has thousands of limestone karsts that jut out of the water. They are all different shapes and sizes. I can’t even describe the beauty of it.

View of the rock formations from our boat.

The first day we kayaked around these rock formations to a small beach. We watched the sunset there and then kayaked back to our boat. As it got darker, the water got warmer. Probably warmer than any shower we have had thus far.

A few cold ones while kayaking around Halong. WEE.

JJ & Chloe cheers-ing while enjoying the epic view.

Halong Bay CREW aka Family Band.

The kayaks lining the beach where we watched the sunset.

HAPPY JUMPING. Paradise. Took a few tries to get this shot.

We had a delicious dinner of fresh fish, vegetables and rice (every meal was included on the trip, and each was better than the previous). When the rooms were being delegated, everyone was asked if three people wanted to share a king size bed. Jo, Leigh and I each shot up our hands simultaneously, as this was nothing new for us. Three to a bed had been a reoccurring theme in our trip. Oh wait, let me correct myself: four in a bed had been a reoccurring theme of our trip. hahah. The room with the king size bed that we were sharing just so happened to have a massive private balcony aka massive pre-drink. Did we mention it was Halloween night?!!! One problem though: Costumes????

HALLOWEEN on the boat!

We obviously had left our costumes to the very last minute and had no idea what to be. Using the only resources at our fingertips, we decided that the boys we were travelling with (JJ and Marcus) would dress up as us, and we would dress up as them. Note: JJ got intimate in my dress. YUK!!!!!! He couldn’t take my dress off so he had to ask the girl to take it off hahahhahaha. Although that is a funny story, I had to burn my dress.

Chloe getting some action?

 

We also ended up meeting 4 other English guys on our cruise, which we happened to travel with for quite a while (and are still travelling with to this day). Words cannot describe our first Asian Halloween. Let’s just say the night began with a 30-person game of Kings, followed by an intense dance party...followed by jumping off of the ship into the ocean in the pitch black. The next thing we remember is being woken up at 7AM by Ceasar, our trip leader, who decided to blast house music at full volume so the entire cruise ship would wake up.

We were then taken to this private island and tanned and swam and went BANANA BOATING. Leigh and I went banana boating at Ian’s cottage a couple of summers ago and it was a wonderful experience...us bouncing around on this floating banana, very leisurely and care free. Maybe a couple ‘circles of death’ thrown in, but nothing we couldn’t handle. We thought we had banana boating in the bag. Apparently, this was just amateur banana boating. The banana boating in Halong Bay was no regular banana boating, it was an extreme sport. Jo, Leigh, myself, and the six other men we were travelling with, decided to take a leisurely banana boat ride in the ocean in front of our secluded island. Little did we know that Vietnamese banana boating was nowhere NEAR Muskoka banana boating. First of all, extreme banana boating entails high speeds combined with massive waves as well as our guide yelling position changes (for example, the person at the front had to run to the back while in motion as well as reverse cow girl position where everyone has to turn around to face the back of the banana boat.) When we fell off we all landed on each other meaning, I got punched in the face, kicked in the butt, broken arm...the whole nine yards. Leigh basically broke her leg. It was a jumble of bodies. You would fall off and someone would land on you, then another person would land on you, THEN ANOTHER PERSON WOULD LAND ON YOU. Lord oh lord. So sorreeeeee. At one point my head was being dragged on the surface of the water and Marcus and Ollie were trying to pull me back on for like 30 seconds. I was told I looked like mission impossible.

View of the private island from the beach.

Smiling faces before the Banana Boat of death.

Can't. Even. Get. Back. On.

Let’s just say it was quite the experience. When we finally finished, the 9 of us literally dragged our bodies up the beach and sat there in awe of what we had just endured. After a clothing-change, some amazing barbecued squid and chicken, and a few drinking games, we all settled into our bamboo huts (which consisted of a grass roof, sleeping pad and mosquito net). Although the sleeping conditions were nothing shy of literally sleeping in the jungle, we were out as soon as our heads hit the pillow.  Another exhausting, yet fun-filled day in Halong Bay.

The next day we endured a painful 7 AM wake-up call via Gong, and took the boat back to the main port. There we hopped on a bus which took us back to Hanoi, where we planned our next leg of the trip...

Vietnam: The land of no traffic signs.

After our hellish bus ride, we finally ended up in Hanoi - Vietnam's capital and main major city. Since we needed some backpacker-style pampering, we decided to splurge on arrival and stay in a $10 dollar/night hotel, as opposed to a $3 dollar/night hostel. It was HEAVEN..Air conditioning, our own beds (instead of the cosy queen-sized bed the three of us had been sharing the entire trip thus far), and an English movie channel...What more could you ask for?

 

Us holding heaps of Dong upon arrival in Hanoi- FYI: Dong is Vietnam's currency ;)

We adored Hanoi. It was a hustling bustling city that strangely reminded us of New York. The streets were thin and decorated with lights and lanterns and red Vietnamese flags. We felt the energy right from the get go. The main difference we noticed was that THERE ARE NO ROAD RULES. The only rule is: just go. Seriously, if you are driving through an intersection you just go. If you are a pedestrian crossing the street you just go. It was TERRIFYING at first but you get used to it. If you show any sign of hesitation, you will most likely get run over. People just go around you. Oh and they LOVE the horns. There are a thousand different versions. Our favourite was the fader horn (Aka a special edition horn that goes from really loud to soft from a single touch of the button).

In the middle of the street right near our hostel.

One of the cool things about Hanoi is that all of the locals eat their meals on the side walk on little plastic stools. There is this one street corner where you can buy 4 beers for $1, so we went and sat like the locals on these little stools and drank our beer and people watched. It was incredible. When there are no driving rules, people watching can get intense. Bikes were criss-crossing all over the place. Also, the things that people put on the back of their bikes is abstruse...such as massive bags of rice, a chest of draws, 1-year old-children, and boxes the size of a small fridge. And you thought Asians were bad drivers.

4 Beers for 1 Dollar. YUM.

Motor bikes EVERYWHERE.

Street food looking tasty as ever. NOT.

Our English friend enjoying a "Chip Butty" (french fry sandwich).

There is a wonderful lake in the middle of the city, and in the centre of the lake is an island with a stone monument. Supposedly, the king built this temple dedicating it to a tortoise. The legend goes as follows: back in the 15th century the Mongols were attacking Hanoi, so the king went to the lake and a tortoise came up and provided the king with a sword. With this sword the King defeated the Mongols and returned to the lake to give the sword back to the tortoise. The sword is supposedly still in the lake and the occasional tortoise spotting reminds the Hanoi people of victory against the Mongolians.  There you go, a little history lesson!

Tortoise Temple.

Some ice cream by the Tortoise Lake.

We continued to walk around Hanoi, and came across every woman/girl/metrosexual/homosexual's fantasy: Shoe Village. The entire street was packed with shoes coming from every direction. Every style, colour and knock-off brand imaginable. Obviously, we spent some much-needed time in shoe village...highly recommended.

Shoe HEAVEN.

That night, we decided to check-in to Hanoi Backpacker's hostel with some of the friends we had met. It was a $3 dollar/night, mixed (boys and girls) dorm-room style hostel. Quite the experience - and definitely the place to stay in Hanoi if you are backpacking. We all went out to this club, which looked small at the front, but opened up into a massive dance floor. Party, partyyy. What a phenomenal way to spend October 30^th.  

Hostel Friends.

Dance, Dance, Dance.

Next stop, 8AM wake-up call for our 3 day, 2 night cruise in Halong Bay..To Be Continued.

Much Love,

Leigh & Chloe

Honk Your HORN More, BUDD

Wellll hello folks!!!!

So finally, (and when I say FINALLY..I mean it), we are in Hanoi, Vietnam. The route to Hanoi from Vang Vieng was not an easy task, nor should it be taken by anyone. EVER.
So, as you can probably see by Chloe's posts, Vang Vieng was like a Wonderland for adults. Probably 5 of the best days of our lives. If you come to Southeast Asia and you do not go tubing in Vang Vieng, then you are a LoooooSER and you are missing out big time. Words, not even pictures, can describe the amount of good times we had, and the amazing people we met. We will try to post some more pics soon.

Anyways, like I said, we ended up meeting a bunch of other people in Vang Vieng who told us they were hitting up this place called Halong Bay in Vietnam. They were planning on taking a 3 day, 2 night party boat/cruise which would be stopping at all of the beaches and islands (along with kayaking, snorkling, etc.)..and obviously we HAD to go with them. So, we ended up foregoing our plans to go to Luang Prabang (another city in Laos), and staying another phenom night in Vang Vieng, so that we could leave on the 28th on a 24 hour bus over to Hanoi.

So we got on a mid sized bus in Vang Vieng at 1:30 PM, which drove us 4 hours to Vientiene (the main area of Laos where most buses/planes depart from). When we got to Vientiene, we caught the 6:00 PM sleeper bus which would be taking us to Hanoi (a 24-hour ride). We all got settled in our own little 'bunks'..Jocelyn and I were in the back of the bus (right besise the toilet...yum), along with one other passenger in a 3-person bunk. Very cozy. Chloe got a solo sleeper bunk (there were two layers of bunks - a layer on the floor and a layer on the top). Anyways, after a 6-hour delay at the Vietnamese border, and hours of horn-honking later (the Vietnamese people honk their horns at all times. Why? I don't know)..we finally made it to Hanoi 32 hours after our departure from Vientiene. Overall, it was the experience that we will always remember, but we will also go down in the books as the girls who conquered one of the "Top 5 Worst Bus Routes in the World". BEAT THAT.

                                      My view of the top row from the back of the sleeper bus.

Mooooorreeee Porridgeee

Me doing the rope swing. Best swing of my life. Dont jump on the rocks!!!!

Ewww  beeesss in the shots. There was one bottle with a snake in it. Nast

Tubing pretzel.

Note: We have been doing non alcoholic activities as well. We went to this beautiful blue lagoon as well as this really creepy cave. It was so dark and we had to wear head flash lights to see. We climbed to the middle and there was a gold budda lying in the middle of the cave. It was beautiful. Leigh then saw a spider and I have never seen someone exit that cave so fast hahahahahah.

Heaps of new friends

Hahahah Leigh was obsessed with these shots.

Last night we were drinking at dinner and we wanted a splash more alcohol in our bucket. So we said, Sirrrr could we get a drop more delicous tiger wisky in our bucket. He gave us have half a 26. No big deal. Some people in Vang Viene are jems.

Bucket in and around....

HELLOOOOO,

I wanted to describe the most amazing experience that we had (its Chloe by the way). Before I do this i want to say that Leigh and I have prepared a wonderful Bangkok presentation with pictures and vids, and every time we try to post it it takes forever to post and then fails cause the internet is brutal, the excuse was that it was Saturday and the high speed internet is not high speed on Saturday. What a nut. Anyways, we are going to try to post it in Luang Prabang when we have more time. We have been busy tubing all day here in Vang Viang.


Anywho, back to the amazing experience. So our first day in Vang Viang we went tubing obviously. For those of you that don't know, you rent a tube and tube down the river and stop at each bar along the way. At these bars there are slides, rope swings, flip cup, free shots (but they are nasty cause they have snakes, bees and centipedes in them) and spray paint. We basically had the most wild day of our lives and met some sick sickkkkk people. Oh and our team won flip cup obv. Oh and we did the rope swing which was freaking and amazing. We have 400 pictures which we will post soon.

So we ended up leaving the last bar at 6ish, and it gets really dark here early so a group of 8 of us were floating down the river in the pitch black with only the stars as our guide. IT WAS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. You could see the outline of the limestone mountains which are really pointy and it was just breathtaking.We all just floated down this river in our tubes singing songs and looking up at the sky. It was a magical experience. Kindo of creepy at times when your butt hit a rock or a twig grazed your leg but appart from that it was amazing. HEAPPS OF FUN, as our new aus friend would say.

Going to post picts and vids soon. We have the best videos.

Miss you HEAPPSSSSS
xoxoox

Sneak Peak of Bangkok

Hellooo,

To all you followers out there...do not fret. We are currently putting together a descriptive blog of our wild & action packed journey through bustling Bangkok. We have a lot to write so we thought we would post a quick sneak peak of our first night in Bangkok and of our first tuk-tuk ride (FYI- a tuk-tuk isThai taxi that is petit and has no doors).

This is the conversation that went down right before we jumped on the tuk-tuk:

Jocelyn: We should go see a ping pong show tomorrow night with my friend Chris so we have a guy to accompany us.

Chloe and Leigh: Yesssssss!!!!!! Wooottt!!!!

Random Aussie group of men that had just stopped us on the street (Koh San Road): Hey girls do you want to come to a ping pong show with us for 200 baht each plus a free bucket??!

Chloe, Jo and Leigh: Ummmmmmmmm....YES!!

And off we went (view video below).

Haahahah. So much for easing our way into Bangkok...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jQfqgWWAvA