Vietnam – Halong Bay

If you’re not feeling like travelling around the very touristic Thailand, but you do feel like travelling through South East Asia, Vietnam is the perfect option for you. Even though this country has become more and more touristic the past few years, it still has enough authentic, breathtaking places to make a trip to Vietnam one you will not easily forget. In the upcoming few blogs I will list the absolute highlights of this beautiful country.

Halong Bay: such a magical place
Halong Bay is the coverfoto of my travel blog for a reason: it’s a truly magical place. Halong Bay stands for the bay of the descending Chinese dragons, and it’s no wonder this mysterious place is part of Unesco’s World Heritage. At every hostel or hotel you can book a trip to Halong Bay. By bus it takes about three hours on a bumpy road to get there. For both party people as the more quieter types amongst us different tours are offered. If your liver is up for a challenge, you can choose to book the Castaway Tour

Ladies and gentlemen, prepare your livers please…
A boat brings you to the Castaway island, while on the way the different drinking rules are explained. Once at the island the party can really get started, and one drinking game quickly follows up after another. You also get the opportunity to go canoeing through Halong Bay or, if you’re up for it, to hop on some waterski’s. If you’re interested in booking a Castaway cruise then I’d recommend asking your hostel or hotel what the best option is for you.

The old farts cruise
If you’d rather experience Halong Bay while being sober most of the time, you can also chose one of the other many, many offered cruises. We chose to do a two days/one night cruise on a boat which sailed through Halong Bay. During these two days you can take part in different activities such as visiting a cave, hiking to the top of an amazing viewpoint, canoeing through the beautiful waters of Halong Bay, early-birding and doing some Tai-Chi on the deck of the ship, making fresh spring rolls and most of all intensely enjoying the beautiful surroundings.

Whether you choose the Castaway tour or the old farts cruise – sailing through Halong Bay is something you will most likely remember for the rest of your life.