From Hanoi, we made a quick stop to the Halong Bay area. Halong Bay is known for its thousands of limestone karsts, covered in green foliage, which jet out of the water. After researching the options, we booked an overnight cruise on the Dragon Legend 2 (which was a splurge for us, budget-wise. And SO worth it). It was a short trip, but it was one of the most beautiful coastlines I've ever seen.
It was about a 4 hour ride to Halong Bay, after which we took a tender to the Dragon Legend 2 and got settled in. Of the 24 cabins, we had two of them! It was a small and very comfortable ship.
The boys explored the whole boat (didn't take long) and really liked the putting mat on the sundeck.
We enjoyed dish after dish of great Vietnamese food for lunch, as well as the scenery surrounding us. We arrived in Bai Tu Long Bay towards the end of our meal.
After lunch we changed into our bathing suits so that we could go for a kayak trip.
The waters were so calm and peaceful.
Emmett's relaxed pose here pretty much sums up how we all felt.
I tried to get a picture of the 4 of us, but it's pretty hard to do while staying upright in a kayak. 3 of 4 Moorhouses isn't too bad (sorry, Emmett)...
As our boat headed towards our anchoring spot, the sun was setting. The light changing on the karsts and the water was just beautiful.
Dinner was more yummy Vietnamese food and elaborate carvings, including a bird made from pumpkin and a dragon made from carrot.
On the way back to our cabins, we stopped at the back of the boat where some of the crew members were fishing for squid. Both boys tried their best to catch one, with no luck.
Unfortunately, Bob got an awful migraine headache in the middle of the night. The next morning he was still dealing with the after effects of that, so he stayed in the cabin. Colin kept him company while Emmett and I went on a short excursion to a cave in one of the karsts. The cave was OK, but the view was great.
We had some more time to enjoy the views and take pictures as we cruised back towards Halong Bay.
On the way back to Hanoi, we stopped at a small village where they showed us how rice goes from a plant to a food. The boys got to try out the traditional tools that were used to separate the grains from the chaff and clean them.
The shuttle dropped us off at the Hanoi Train Station, where we had about 4 1/2 hours to kill. We ate dinner nearby and then parked ourselves in a coffee shop to pass the remaining time before boarding our first Vietnamese overnight train!
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