We took a 2.5 hour bus ride to go on a day cruise with Aurora Cruises to Halong Bay. Dave and I visited back in 2008 and I was blown away with how beautiful and remote it felt. It was still stunning, but not remote anymore. Our day was jam packed. When we arrived we enjoyed a buffet lunch and the jacuzzi on the sun deck. Then the two older boys kayaked into one of the caves, while the rest of us rode in the bamboo boat (aka lazy boat). The water was bright blue and the rock islands reached straight up into the sky above us. Next we headed to Sung Sot Cave, which they also call “surprise” cave. It was a hot climb of many stairs to the inside of the cave, but once inside it was nice and cool. It was a huge open cave with many different formations. It looked how I remembered it, just with a lot more people. Afterwards we headed to Titop (tee-top) Island to swim, then back to our boat where we enjoyed the jacuzzi again and a few snacks as we headed back to the harbor. It was a very full day. Part of the cruise was wonderful and part was frustrating. There were many boats and lots of people everywhere. This is considered off season. I can’t imagine what tourist season looks like! We also spent a lot of time waiting…for the bus, for the boat, for the next activity. There was some major nickel and diming on the cruise, things that we thought were included (like drinks). I was so dehydrated that I got sick on the bus ride back to Hanoi. Nothing says love like your spouse holding a bag of your throw up til the next rest stop. But on the plus side, we loved that we got to show Halong Bay to the kids and we loved how much the kids loved the jacuzzi.
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