SOUTHEAST ASIA: HALONG BAY, VIETNAM
After a 3.5hr private car ride from Hanoi we arrived in Halong. Our driver dropped us off at our home stay. After a bit of confusion of which unit was ours we were surprised with a Honey moon package, better late then never. We have been mentioning that it is our honeymoon occasionally and sometimes they do something nice. This time two towel swans and a note. We walked from our homestay along the water and through parts of the city. We stopped for dinner at a local seafood restaurant. Then headed into the more touristy area for a beer before heading back to our place. Halong is a work in progress, it's going through a lot of changes. The water front is being turned into a very large amusement park and beyond that endless rows of 3-5 storey accommodations. The view for now is breath taking but in the near future it may only be from a boat or a high rise.
AIRBNB- HALONG CORNER HOMESTAY
We spent a few days in Halong and then booked a boat trip through the islands of Halong bay. We moved to a homestay a little closed to the ferry and a little further from the hustle and bustle. Banana and Rose Homestay is situated on the bridge connected island of Tuan Chau Island. This island is also being gentrified. The island has a slightly eerie feeling and is home to a recently shut down theme park that showcased live animal shows. The shows were the reason for its closure (mistreatment of animals resulting in the deaths of dolphins). The newly added international port, new accommodations and home stays like Banana and Rose will ensure its return to glory.
AGODA- BANANA AND ROSE HOMESTAY
FREQUENTED PLACES
1958 RESTAURANT
SHORT TRIPS- CAT BA ISLAND
After a 45 min ferry ride and a 40 minute bus ride through the jungles of Cat Ba island we arrived at our next place, Mona Homestay on Cat Ba Island. We had booked a few days earlier a boat trip leaving from Cat Ba through Halong Bay and Ha Lan Bay.
AIRBNB- MONA HOMESTAY
FREQUENTED PLACES
NOBLE HOUSE
FROM THE LENS- PHOTO BATTLE
JUSTIN'S PIC(K)S
TRANSPORT- CAT BA VENTURES
Our adventure with Cat Ba Ventures started at 10am. 8 of us and our guide Kong piled into a van and headed to the port. We were advised we would spend the day on a smaller boat visiting some of the sites and then meet up with the bigger boat later in the afternoon. The larger boats are not recommended due to bad weather conditions. The smaller boat was still fully equipped with a kitchen, a large dining room, an upper deck for lounging, a bar, two bathrooms and even a laughing gas filling station in case the beer wasn't getting the job done. We spent the day cruising between limestone mountains and kayaking through low ceiling caves. After our day trip we transfered to the larger boat which was equipped with 4 full bedrooms a captains cabin, boat boy cabin, a dinning room, kitchen and two tiered sun deck. The boat was very impressive. All of the rooms had three piece washrooms, air conditioning, queen sized beds and storage closets. The other passengers were three other couples, two couples from Germany (of course more Germans,lol) and one couple from France. We shared all of our meals together, a few drinks and we snuck in a couple rounds of Saboteur. Cat Ba Ventures gifted us a bottle of wine for our Honeymoon, which we shared with everyone over dinner. During the first day we took Ariel up for a few shots and captured some amazing views from above.
ENTER THE DRONE- SHOTS FROM ABOVE
The second day started with a 5:15am wake up to view the sunrise, due to heavy fog we were unable to see it. We went back to bed and slept until breakfast was ready. The second day it rained for most of the day, giving us a short window to visit one of the beaches by kayak. We headed back to the harbour after our kayak trip. We packed up all of our things and disembarked. Back into the van and back to Cat Ba Ventures.
JUSTINS- BEER LIST HALONG
So long Vietnam. We are headed back to Thailand to see Bangkok.
SEE WHERE ELSE WE HAVE BEEN
SEE WHAT ELSE WE ARE DOING
PROJECTS
WINTER FLEET 2020- THE HOBBYISTS, ELLA AND WIND DREAMER.