Jake and I toured Hạ Long Bay on a 3 day, 2 night cruise. Our cruise included a visit to the aptly named Sung Sot (Amazing) Cave, several kayaking excursions, a raucous and beer-fueled karaoke experience, futile attempts at squid fishing, and spectacular views in every direction.

When we were booking the tour, we went back and forth trying to decide whether to visit Bai Tu Long Bay or Hạ Long Bay. The former, located just north of Hạ Long Bay, was only recently opened to tourism, and because of the higher entrance fee, only 4+ star tour companies can afford to run boats through the area. As a result, the traffic through the area is much lower and the views are more unspoiled. In contrast, Hạ Long Bay is an established tour destination, and so there is a larger variety of tour companies to choose from. We reasoned that we could save a little money by going with a 3-star boat to Hạ Long Bay, and would see equally amazing views as if we had spent more by going to Bai Tu Long Bay. The experience did not disappoint.

We ended up booking our trip with Seasun Cruise through one of the many travel agencies in Hanoi. The gregarious tour leader, Tu, picked us up from our hotel in the morning and ushered us onto the bus. After making many more stops at hotels around Hoan Kiem, our full bus started on its way to the ports in Hạ Long City. The bus paused halfway at a rest stop selling pretty but overpriced marble and jade sculptures, pottery, and embroidered panels; for me, the highlight of the stop was the random rooster strutting through the parking lot and the spotted pink berries on some of the trees. After arriving at the port, we spent at least five minutes driving past the lines of people queuing for day cruises, then boat after boat for different cruise companies, docked and awaiting passengers. We boarded a tiny boat and were told to put on life jackets. 30 seconds later, we had pulled up alongside our cruise boat, which was docked to the same promenade that we had just been driving down. We’re still not sure what necessitated that short boat ride, and why we couldn’t have just walked.

Although we were surrounded by other boats on the first and last days of the tour, they were dwarfed by the soaring landscapes. And on the second day, when most other passengers turned back to the port, our day boat took us out further and we seemingly had the place to ourselves.

Hạ Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site and contains around 2000 limestone islands. The islands vary in size from flat lumps of rock, to towering pillars, to rocks so large and tree-encrusted that they look like they could be a part of the mainland. The largest island in the area is Cát Bà; some of the people on our boat spent the second of their two nights on the island, and had many fun things to report.

We got to talk to many interesting people in the midst of their travels. One Italian couple had raised a family and lived in the Bay Area for almost 30 years before moving back to Italy. Now retired, they keep active by traveling the world, and the husband occasionally teaches seminars at universities. We also met Viraj and Anand, an extremely friendly couple from Texas/Canada who were on their 8th month of traveling (out of a total of 10), during which they completed numerous stints of medical-related volunteering.

Sung Sot Cave, or the Amazing Cave, is a series of vast and dramatically-lit caverns that hide behind an unassuming dark slash in the rocky face of a large island. As we meandered down the paved walkways past sections of collapsed floor, I was reminded of the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland; the cave was surreal in its scale and impressive formations.

On the first night, most of the boat worked themselves into an alcohol-induced karaoke frenzy. Jake and I had been talking to Viraj and Anand on the top deck, and we descended to the dining room to find the tables covered in beer bottles and the out-of-tune singing still going strong. The main instigator, Patrick, had booked a 2 day, 1 night cruise on a whim as he returned one night from a bar. He kept exclaiming, “92 bucks! Can you believe it?!? I’m having the time of my life and I only paid 92 bucks!” He also kept ordering rounds of drinks for everyone doing karaoke, and shortly after we arrived, he ordered about four bottles of red wine for everyone to share.

On the second night, we attempted to catch squid off the side of the boat. All the brochures we looked at when shopping around for a cruise advertised squid fishing as one of the evening activities. However, when we enquired about squid fishing, we were handed simple bamboo poles with fishing line tied to the end. At the end of the line there was a multi-hooked lure, presumably for squid. The crew installed a bright light above the water to attract the squid. When we asked for instruction, they mimed bobbing the lure in the water and then left us to our own devices. We’re still not sure whether anyone has ever caught a squid in Hạ Long Bay. And given the number of hopeful fishermen hanging off the other boats, we’re not sure whether there are even any squid left to catch.

The highlight activity of the trip was definitely kayaking. On the second day, we got to kayak closer to and around some of the smaller islands. We had quite a lot of fun poking our heads (or in some cases the whole kayak) into caves, and admiring the shear rocky faces and the trees and plants bravely clinging to them.