It was a 4 hour bus ride to the very beautiful, very busy Ha Long Bay, famous for its thousands of limestone islands and islets. At the halfway point we stopped at a rest area run by a disabled group. G Adventures ethos consists of giving back to the local communities wherever they travel, especially the disadvantaged such as women, and a first for me, disabled.

65% goes to artist; 30% to the center for supplying 3 meals, supplies, electricity, etc., and the rest profit to use for future centers. I succumbed to the pressure and bought a piece, and was introduced to the deaf/mute artist.

On the long bus rides My, our guide, gives us little tidbits of history, culture, or about life in Vietnam. Today it was about their language. Each syllable is a word yet many words have multiple meanings based on the many intonations. For example: one word had 6 different meanings from “melon” to “cleaning” depending on your pronunciation. Thank you could mean “thank you” or “shut up”. So to be safe, I’m sticking to English!

We arrived at the boat around noon and immediately set off to cruise Halong Bay. We had lunch underway then took the smaller launch over to one of the islands to explore a cave and viewpoint. My told us that since they are made of limestone they are riddled with caves, 1000’s of caves, and many of the larger islands are sunken in the middle, like this one.

Next we motored over to a nearby bay for some kayaking. I finagled a solo boat as I fancied a bit of exercise and explored the coastline of the bay.

Drinks and conversation while we watched the sunset as we anchored up for the night. This is where the popularity of Halong Bay hit home, there are dozens and dozens of boats with lights flashing and music playing. Perhaps it was good the cold night brought us all inside and we forgot about the others. A great dinner – the chef went all out on his decorations!

A fun fan making lesson after dinner, then my roommate Tannisha and I called it a night. We did not score a good cabin location. We’re near the stern, beside the wooden staircase and kitchen and engine room with its noisy generator. It might be a long night….