A luxury cruise in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

It's my first morning in Vietnam and my only one in Hanoi. I woke up very early and even had a restless night, thinking all the time about where we were going and why we chose to travel to Vietnam, not knowing when I sketched out the route that this country is fabulous and that I would need a few months to discover only part of its beauties. In a few hours we will be on a cruise ship for two days, in one of the most impressive places on earth, Ha Long Bay, located in the Gulf of Tonkin, in the northwest of Vietnam, 165 km from the capital Hanoi. It is a UNESCO heritage site and includes around 1900-2000 islands of unique beauty, with limestone karst landforms, caves and conical peaks. For several days I had been following the evolution of the weather in the area and I was hoping that, during the two days, the sun would be our closest friend. This morning, the city was a blast of heat. At 9 am we were to meet the minivan driver who would transfer us to the cruise departure point. A hasty breakfast followed, more fresh fruit and coffee, and since there was still an hour until the transfer, we went out to walk the streets around the hotel.Bustle, the noise of scooters packed to the max, chickens sizzling on the rotisserie in the “makeshift kitchens” on the sidewalks, souvenir shops with their doors wide open, street vendors, locals eating on small stools, and everywhere horns and people squeezing between scooters, trying to cross to the other side of the street. The Vietnamese are full of energy, the same people I found last night in the parks, where they relaxed on mats or chairs until midnight, and now the streets were full again. Pressed by time and my husband, I ran into a souvenir shop, bought two mother-of-pearl rings, and that because I still only had hand luggage, I would have bought half of the products there. Five minutes later I was a few blocks away, happy that at every turn I had subjects to photograph. As I walked chaotically through the streets, I came to a school where there were many children in the courtyard, singing and doing rhythmic gymnastics. Other students were applauding from the school balconies and they were all cheerful and extremely noisy, but very well organized. I had almost forgotten that someone was waiting for us in the hotel lobby, when a funeral procession appeared on the street that absorbed me even more, with rituals different from those I knew. Shortly after, we left the city of Hanoi behind for Ha Long Bay. We covered the distance of about four hours, staring out the window admiring the endless orchards of exotic fruits, the vast rice fields and being impressed by the very carefully cared for cemeteries located in the courtyards of the houses. In Vietnam, graves are intensely colored, and residents of rural areas bury their family members very close to their homes, in the middle of the rice field, to be in constant contact with their surviving relatives, because they believe that after a hundred days, their soul is reincarnated. I don't even know how time passed and we arrived in Hai Pong, where we and about 20 other people were picked up by other minibuses and transferred to a large speedboat. After a few minutes we spotted the Orchid Cruise ship that would host us until the next day, at lunchtime. All the crew members were on the side of the ship and were waiting for us happily, waving their hands in the air in perfect synchrony. We boarded the ship and were greeted with a cold drink, wet towels and lots of smiles. The ship's manager, a very nice Vietnamese man, welcomed us, gave us a little more detail about the cruise program, handed us the room key and arranged to meet us in half an hour for lunch. We had opted for a premium cabin, with its own terrace, precisely because we wanted to spend as much time outside as possible and enjoy the entire landscape until late at night. In our room everything was perfect, starting with the fruit basket that I couldn't wait to try, continuing with the bathroom that had a jacuzzi tub located next to the spacious window and culminating with the balcony where we wished we could sleep, it was so beautiful 🙂 I don't know when half an hour passed, but we quickly took a shower, changed and were relaxing on the bed facing the window, when a waitress rang the doorbell and told us that we were expected at the table. Here followed other surprises offered by the crew, many dishes and desserts, all in an elegant setting and surrounded by pleasant people. Captivated by the events, we noticed late that the ship had started moving and that some landscapes like we had seen in the movie Avatar were opening up around us. I forgot to mention that although in Hanoi the sun was playing with our white skin, in the bay things were completely different: the sky was covered with clouds, it wasn't very hot outside, but the temperature allowed you to wear a t-shirt. Everything seemed slightly shrouded in fog, but the nearby rocks were quite visible, but all we wanted was for it not to rain. While the ship's manager was telling us that right after dinner we would go kayaking, I was looking out the window and dreaming, not realizing that I was there. My husband brought me back to reality, who told me that we had to go to the cabin to change and leave with the kayak and that we only had 5 minutes. Everything was very well organized so that we could go through all the stages of the cruise. It was the first time that it was going to be just the two of us in a kayak and I suddenly felt panic. I said that I wasn't going, I would wait on the ship until they returned. He insisted a couple of times, then he also abandoned the idea. One by one, the other passengers got into the kayak and moved away from the ship, there was only one kayak left and the two of us on deck. Suddenly I gathered my courage, looked at him, put on my life jacket and jumped into the kayak. It wasn't the first time for us, but previously we had a boatman who was rowing and in whom we had placed all our hopes for our survival 🙂This time we were alone. After a few minutes of trembling, I overcame my fear and started paddling both of us, at first quite clumsily. At one point we started racing with two girls from the United States who were handling their kayaks quite well. We went around some huge rocks and arrived at a beautiful deserted beach. The water was quite cold, so I didn't venture into swimming, instead I took pictures and collected corals and snails 🙂 After an hour of pampering on the beach, we returned to Orchid Cruise where we attended a traditional Vietnamese cooking class, which was mainly attended by the children of the tourists on the boat. All the amenities were included in the $480 price we paid before boarding the ship, except for the alcoholic beverages, which we had to pay extra for. Therefore, to facilitate the passengers' access to such drinks, the crew organized a happy hour, with one cocktail paid for, the second one free. We went up to the upper deck of the ship and enjoyed a few cocktails, enjoying the fabulous view around us.We went down to the cabin again, this time in an attempt to sleep for half an hour, because we were already tired, but the moment we got to the room and pulled the curtains, I had the feeling that I had a very large TV screen in front of me and that I was watching a 3D movie. The rocks passed in front of us, moving away from us and giving way to other strange landforms that appeared out of nowhere and revealed their beauty. Only here and there you could see a more daring bird that ventured to look for food on the islets. With this almost fantastic landscape, I was on the border between dream and reality, when again we were called to the table. And we were the last ones 🙂 We sat down at the table with an Australian family with whom we talked about our tourist experiences so far and who whetted our appetite for Bali. The dinner was impressive, with traditional Vietnamese dishes served in an intimate setting, by candlelight placed in pineapples, one for each person, brought to the applause of all those present. Many dishes, all equally good and appetizing, followed by happy hour and, again, cocktails, this time enjoyed in the silence of the night, watched only by the large forested cones sticking out of the water. During the night, our boat was stationary, but we fell asleep gently rocked by the ripples of the water, with the curtains drawn to one side, to enjoy the scenery as long as possible. I fell asleep looking out the window and woke up in the morning with a different view, although our boat was in the same place. During the night, we turned in the opposite direction, so in the morning I woke up with a wide opening in front of the window and many rocks in the distance. Sensational! The wake-up call was at 6am for those who wanted to take part in a Tai Chi class, but we took advantage of the last minutes of silence to admire nature from the balcony. After a fabulous breakfast, we had another adventure, this time by canoe. We took a tour of the bay in the Toi Sang cave area, then returned to the ship for check-out. We had another snack offered by the crew, but who could eat more? We said goodbye to the entire crew that accompanied us on the deck of the ship and parted with the same beautiful gestures with which they welcomed us, with their hands in the air and with a lot of joy on their faces. We were transferred by boat to the place where our cars were waiting, to take us each to where we needed to go. They took us to the airport 🙂