A Day Trip to Ha Long Bay

When I got back to my hostel I had booked a tour for Ha Long Bay. Originally I wanted to find my own way there and then I read some blog posts about how hard it is to find your way and once you get there people may scam you, so I found it easier to book a tour. I paid $39 US for my trip which included the following; round trip bus ride to Ha Long Bay, round trip boat ride along the bay, buffet lunch, snack, cave tour and paddle boat through the caves. It was well worth it! The bus ride was about 3 hours long, which was not fun!

When we arrived we kinda stood around for awhile waiting to figure out which boat we were on. I can't even remember the boat's name I was too excited to be on this boat tour. On the boat we had a little introduction of what was going to happen today and then immediately after that they served us a buffet lunch. Lunch consisted of salad, fish, rice, fries, veggies, mixed vegetables with chicken and they also gave us a welcome drink which was just orange pop/soda. If you wanted a drink you had to pay for it, but I had my water bottle. My table ate so much and kept getting more food, other tables barely touched their food. When we finished eating we went on the roof to take pictures. I had someone take my photo and of course it turned out horrible....

Ha Long Bay is so picturesque.

Our first stop was to the floating village, which was about a 30 min boat ride.

Once we got to the village we got off the boat and split up into smaller groups to go on the basket boats. The boats were going to take us on a little tour of the caves.

The basket boats were a bit rocky and my life jacket didn't even close! I've never seen anything like this before. It was so beautiful and untouched. You can really see the natural beauty here, especially in the limestone caves.

The boat ride lasted about 20 mins and then we went boat to our big boat and headed to our next stop.

* Make sure to trip the person taking you around on the basket boat since it is free. 100 baht ($3.50 cad) is a good tip.

The boat ride was another 30 mins. We had the option to stand on the deck and take pictures but it was a bit too breezy for me. Once we got to our destination, Thien Cung Cave we had 40 mins to walk around. The cave was included in our ticket price.

The cave was huge! The limestone was amazing, the formations were very intricate. While walking through the cave I stayed by our tour guide, Vic. He told me a lot about the caves, which I don't remember now, but at the time it was very cool to hear about history while actually being there. I think it would've been a better experience if there weren't as many lights. The lights take away from the natural beauty of the caves and also probably cause some of the wild life to leave their natural habitat.

From the caves there is a beautiful viewpoint on your way back to the boats. I wish I could have stood here forever!!

As I walked to the boat I jut kept taking pictures! This place is so amazingly beautiful, I wish I had more time so I could go deeper into the bay.