Caves, Kayaks, & Cruisin’
I’m in the beautiful, mysterious, iconic Halong Bay in Vietnam.
These islands are known as ‘tower karsts’. They’re made of limestone, and there are over 1,600 of them in the area.
My boat – the Starlight:)
The cruise boat, the food, and the guide are all really great. My room (and JACUZZI tub!):
The water for the tub isn’t super hot, but the strong jets still feel really good.
There are 1,600 islands, so you can cruise on a boat for hours and hours and not see them all. This is some of the scenery I saw:
On the first day, we got on another boat and went to the Halong Bay’s biggest cave. What a great surprise.. this place was amaaazing!
It was a hike up to the top, and I just loved seeing inside the cave… the lighting made everything glow and colorful. The rooms were much bigger than I thought they would be – enormous! View from the island the cave is on:
After the cave tour, I went back to my room, and I opened my window in my room (which, by the way, definitely opens wide enough to easily fall out). When I did, this lady on a boat below my window is yelling at me to buy stuff.
I wanted chocolate, so I negotiated her down to three Snickers for $5 (yeah, what a rip-off). While this was happening, I took a picture of her. So, she hoisted up the Snickers in her basket, and I put the viet-dong equivalent of $5 in and sent it back. Then she starts yelling at me: “Lady! Lady! $5!” She wanted me to pay her five dollars more because I took a picture of her. I told her No and tried to ignore her. She stayed there, though, yelling: “Lady! It’s me! It’s me!”. After I close my window, I can still hear her yelling “It’s me! It’s me!” And then she was hitting my window with her stick! I was afraid she was going to complain to the boat staff and have me deported! She finally stopped when my neighbors rescued me and bought something else from her! And one of the Snickers was crap, by the way (old and looked like dust). What a bitch!
her stick and basket!
boat retail
After a night in the this amazing room, went on another boat the next morning to go sea kayaking. We went through/under four different islands and kayaked around a lot more – a few hours. I also saw someone capsize their kayak when I was taking the video😂
Then we went to a pearl farm. Interesting to see this in the middle of nowhere, but we went there because they wanted us to buy stuff of course. I didn’t buy anything, but I would’ve bought chocolate if they had it😁
Next up: Bangkok for New Years!
wordsmakesentences 
In-room jacuzzi while traveling through the karsts, followed by the fantastic caves and kayaking…few can claim such a unique experience. Looks like you are ‘living’ your life. How grand!
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☺️the cave was awesome!
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Stephanie – Happy New Year! Thanks for doing such an amazing job of documenting your travels. I think I will never get to many of these places in my lifetime but your capture is better than watching a National Geograpic show. Loved the cave. Two thumbs up on the jacuzzi. Two thumbs down on the Snickers Lady.
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hahaa! happy new year, Char! Wish you were joining me on my adventures:)
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I’m glad you didn’t take her stick away !
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