HALONG BAY

We ended our Vietnam trip with 3 days aboard a boat, cruising through Halong Bay, surrounded by nothing but small islands.

It was very relaxing. Besides the day trip we took to the Mekong Delta, we had planned each day in Vietnam ourselves, so it was a change of pace to be on board a cruise where all of our activities had been organised by someone else. It was cool to be taken out of our food-focused comfort zone for a few days, especially after the gorge fest that was Hanoi.

On our first morning our boat was met by four women in small rowboats who picked us up and took us for a ride.

I tried to row but I sucked at it.

We were taken to a local fishing village where kids as young as 5 were tearing through the water in rowboats. 

These kids were so badass that the school had been flipped over and was out of use! They said it was because of storms but I reckon the girl in the pink sweater did it just to see if she could. So badass.

One afternoon the staff aboard the boat prepared a bbq for us on the beach. It was the best food we ate on the cruise – fresh seafood and meat cooked over charcoal.

I bought these sunnies at the market in Hoi An. They’re meant to be Ray Ban knock-offs but the logo says ROY & BON. Money well spent!

Clearly not content after the amazing lunch they’d cooked us, I got the staff to help me find clams in the sand. Then we cooked them over the charcoal and they were delicious!

We went kayaking each day. I dove off the front of the boat into the water a few times too. It was quite the OUTDOOR ADVENTURE™. And what OUTDOOR ADVENTURE™ is complete without a guided tour through some sweet caves?

 

Cool stalactites, brah. 

When we escaped the sweet caves, we were attacked on the beach by a gang of adorable puppies!

Aren’t puppies just the best way to end a cruise?

We headed back to Hanoi for one last night and went straight to Fanny for the best ice cream sundaes ever:

The next morning we boarded our planes for home. Boo hoo.

In conclusion: Vietnam is a fucking radical place to visit and is especially great to eat at. Somehow, after eating 5 meals a day for 2 weeks, I lost 3 kilos, so that makes Vietnam even more magical!

99% of the photos I used in these blog posts were taken by my girlfriend Bianca. She runs an awesome blog called Sandwichface and is the greatest person to travel with ever. Here’s me and her wearing sunglasses on a rowboat:

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