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...