My sister, who happens to be a master of counseling, once advised me that during her studies she learned that vacations from work are important to mental health…shocker, I know. It turns out that the more often you go on holiday, the more refreshed you are…and traveling away from home during those breaks actually recharges you better than relaxing at home-which is why we decided to fly to Vietnam with our friends Erin and Elana to spend our 5 day Lunar New Year break in Ha Long Bay!
On arrival we had the distinct pleasure of listening to the chorus of Abba's Happy New Year song on repeat as we waited for our visas to clear. If you would like to share in that experience, just listen to this for about an hour 😉
Once the soundtrack for the trip had officially been branded into our brains, we left the airport and headed for Hanoi’s Old Quarter. As our van weaved through the frenzy of traffic, we noticed particularly narrow buildings, families of three or four riding on motorbikes, and roots and vines creeping their way in and around pretty much everything.
We also noticed kumquat trees and peach blossom markets on each corner, and nearly every person on the road had one or the other strapped to their bike, rickshaw, or car. We soon learned that on lunar new year in Vietnam, kumquat trees and peach blossom branches are our equivalent to Christmas trees on Christmas!
That night we explored the busy streets and sights of the Old Quarter, admiring art and collecting street pants along the way.
We dashed across crosswalks and danced our way through people, bikes, and balloon men to get to the beautifully lit Lake of the Restored Sword. After crossing a bridge to get to the island temple, we ended our night by enjoying the first of many spring rolls and pho to come.
And then we were off to Ha Long Bay! Our tour guide Hoa met us at the hotel the next morning and drove us three hours past rice fields to our next accommodations- the floating V’Spirit Classic! Steve and I were actually pretty surprised at how nice the boat was compared to the cabin we had in Indonesia- we definitely weren’t roughing it!
We ate lunch as the boat headed out for the bay, and thats when we were surprised for the second time. As our boat brought us closer and closer to the unique landscape, our hosts brought us more and more food. We kept jumping up from the table to run outside and take in the amazing giant karsts passing by, and would come back in to find yet another delicious dish waiting for us on the table!
Lunch did eventually end, and we were able to ooh and ahh to our hearts delight as our boat navigated around the many mountain/islands. I was astonished to learn that the bay is filled with over 2,000 karst landforms!
I was also surprised to learn about the existence of floating convenience stores...
That afternoon we explored the biggest limestone cave I’ver ever seen. The different formations of rock were incredible- I especially loved the texture of the ceiling! Who knew it was possible to feel so small while surrounded on all sides by rock and earth?
The next day was our kayaking day. After an early session of Tai Chi on the sundeck, we boarded a separate boat with Hoa and headed deeper in to the bay!
My favorite part of the experience was kayaking through arches and tunnels to get to secret lagoons within karsts. These next photos show us kayaking through one lagoon into a smaller lagoon…LAGOONCEPTION!!
It was so much fun to kayak in and around all of the amazingly unique rock formations!
We saw several huge jellyfish and some bright green and purple coral. The coral was not as healthy as the rainbow of colors we've experienced elsewhere, but it was still fun to see it from our floating perches!
We surveyed sea shells on a rare white sand beach and then spotted some starfish before heading back to jump off the boat!
As you can see, some in our group were a little more intimidated by the height than others 😃
It was a perfectly relaxing day- at one point everyone on the boat was siesta-ing! And on the next rainy day, I plan to go back to that mental image of rocking to the gentle sway of the see as I slumber in the sunshine, surrounded by rocky green giants and blue sky above.
After a nice sunset followed by an even nicer sunrise, we jumped back in the kayaks and explored some more before heading back to Hanoi and then to reality.
Who says four days out of the country can’t be relaxing? Turns out we were right not to ignore Lyssa’s advice ;)