Ivy Rose Travels: Japan & Vietnam, Part 5, Ha Noi/Ha Long Bay

Ok so normally I'm able to bounce back from jet lag pretty quickly, but this time I really got my butt kicked. As you can probably tell from the posts and videos my family goes pretty hard when we travel, and I was a bit out of travel-shape. I handled it like a champ while on the trip (although admittedly there were way more cranky moments/days than a 30-year-old probably should have two weeks), but the recuperation process has definitely been interesting.

Basically, all of that was a long-winded way of explaining why I've taken such a long time to put up the last two videos and posts. I guess we should just jump right in at this point so as not to waste any more time. 

My parents and I arrived in Ha Noi relatively late at night (I believe it was some time between 10 and 11). What immediately struck me was how active the city was. Actually, that's a lie, what immediately struck me was the intense heat and humidity. I'm from Miami, so it wasn't anything I hadn't experienced before, but Miami at least cools down a bit at night. Stepping out of the airport that night it was clearly still in the upper 80s and very very humid. But once we got acclimated to that and stepped into the car the hotel sent for us, the NEXT thing that struck me was the amount of activity at this time of night. The main mode of transportation in all of the cities we visited in Vietnam are mopeds, or what some might call, scooters. For all of my Gators out there just imagine your typical day on campus except EVERYONE is riding a moped/scooter on their way to and from class--not just the athletes and brave freshmen who miss their cars.

Anyway the drive to the hotel was fairly quick and although he was sleeping when we got there, we were all very excited to finally get to spend some time with my younger (but much taller) brother, Brandon! Our hotel, The Viet View,  was very nice and had a beautiful restaurant on the top floor that had fantastic views of the city. Our suite was also very lovely, with a master bedroom and a separate sleeping area for 2-4 more people down the hall and an amazing balcony with similar views as the restaurant. Our bathroom was also very nice, although we did have some issues with flooding from the shower. The hotel management was very accommodating and provided us with a separate room down the hall where we could take our showers without having to give up our suite, which I thought was a nice compromise.

So normally I split the trip into the "stops" we made within the city, but this time it seems more fitting to use the term "adventure" since we did a couple of tours in which we made a few stops along the way:

Adventure 1: Ha Long Bay Boat Tour

My brother and our Tour guide, Tu

Our first adventure was a two-day, one-night cruise along Ha Long Bay. We crammed into a van (that luckily had pretty decent air conditioning, with two tour guides and 12 other tourists (from all over the world) and set off on a 4-hour drive to the bay. Most of our travel companions were backpackers, many were traveling as couples, but there were also quite a few single travelers, which I will note here as I plan to write a commentary/reaction piece on traveling alone in the near future. The drive wasn't too bad as I slept for most of it and our tour guide, Tu was great! We made one stop half-way through the drive for restrooms, snacks and shopping....AND BOY COULD YOU SHOP! I'll just let the pics speak for themselves.

The tour company we chose was Ha Long Dagong Sail, which is one of the mid-priced bay tour companies and overall we were very pleased with the accommodations and service. All meals are included in the package price, but any drinks on board are extra-and they push them all day. The first day on the boat we did quite a bit of exploring and made two major stops:

Stop 1:  Sung Sot Cave
Sung Sot Cave, or the Surprise Cave/Cave of Surprises was absolutely mind-blowing. We had to make a pretty decent hike up what felt like a million steps in the heat, but we were rewarded with breathtaking views and a much cooler environment inside the cave. Again, I think I'll just let pictures do the talking here.

Stop 2: Kayaking
Our next stop was kayaking around the bay, which we all felt a little too tired for due to the heat and the fact that we were repeatedly told that we couldn't swim because of jellyfish. However, we were once again rewarded with magnificent views and our guide ultimately felt that it was safe enough in our particular area for a quick swim and we all literally jumped at the opportunity to cool off. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the actual swimming because-well I was in the water-but my parents do and I'll link to their blogs once they put them up.


Then it was back to the boat for a sunset cruise, with one complimentary beverage and delicious fruit, followed by dinner and socializing/bed time. The next day was spent entirely on the boat and most of us tanned, tried to stay cool and slept until it was time for our cooking class and final meal. We met up with some people who were on a 3-day trip, which includes an overnight stay on a nearby island in the bay and then we all got into two vehicles (my family was lucky enough to get placed on the larger bus) and made our way back to our hotel.

Adventure 2: Food on Foot Tour

Fresh fruit

Happy Father's Day Dad!

The day we returned from Ha Long Bay was Father's Day and my mom had booked a food on foot tour as a special surprise for my dad. The tour package includes a guide who takes you through the streets of Old Quarter in Ha Noi, visiting 5-6 local restaurants so that you can sample the local cuisine. The guide also provides history of the Old Quarter and the people living there. Our guide was amazing and took us to some really awesome spots,  although he loved to play the "guess what you're eating" game, which we only failed once when we ate a mixture of meat that included ground up worms....which was surprisingly delicious.

Delicious rice cake

The tour was a great way to get a lot of information on the city in a short period of time and I highly recommend it.










We were exhausted from our boat trip and adventurous eating experience and had to head off to our next city-Hoi An, which my mother promised would be filled with tons of time to relax by the pool or on the beach. Since the last two cities were both pretty quick stops (about a day and a half in each city) with no pre-planned activities, I am going to merge them into one final blog and vlog. Hopefully I'll have them both up by Monday night at the latest.

Comments/questions/suggestions are welcomed and encouraged. Also, take some time to watch the video above.  If you think anyone else might find this post interesting and/or useful please pass it on. Make sure to follow (this blog) and subscribe (to the youtube channel) for future posts and vlogs. Many of my other series are picking back up now that I'm back in the states. As always...

Enjoy the journey...