We have just got back from three days holiday in beautiful Halong Bay where we lived on a big wooden boat with our own room and bathing facilities. The rooms on board the boat were amazing, even better than many of those in Hanoi city.

The trip included kayaking through caves and untouched lagoons. We also visited floating fishing villages where many Vietnamese people live. The villages even had little floating schools for the local children to attend.

 

The food on the boat was fantastic, especially considering the basic kitchen facilities the staff on board had to work with.

We travelled with a number of awesome Australian families on the boat who had children of all ages. The kids all loved Nikki and I as we made the trip fun for them by getting involved in karaoke in the evenings.

One of the funniest things out in the bay was the local women in little wooden rowing boats who sold chocolate, crackers, cigarettes and alcohol. They somehow happened to be there, in the middle of bloody nowhere, when our boat stopped for a break. The women could be heard yelling out "buy Somsing (something)" whenever we stopped. Clearly they are aware of our consumer driven nature.

Source: mytripjournal