Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is nice. If your going to spend 3 days on a boat, this is most definitely a good place to do it. Anyone who is a fan of limestone will lose their goddamn mind. There are approximately 1 million islands, many of which are home to mythical dragons. You can see them burping fireballs at night. It's inspiring.

We went during the offseason, and it was much less busy than we were anticipating. After islands in Thailand are expectations were quite low, so very easily exceeded! We also lucked out on some clear skies that made for the most sunsetty of sunsets. After this trip, I would never engage in a popular tourist activity unless it was the offseason. I can't imagine what it's like in the summer. Fucking madhouse. This was actually super relaxing. We also splurged and took the luxury cruise because Christmas. Really nice boat, very good food, friendly professional staff. Would cruise again.

Sidenote: Vietnam is the only place where things happen on time. In most parts of SE Asia, I automatically add 1-2 hours onto any form of travel, because thats just how it seems to go. Vietnam is amazingly punctual, which might be why I like it so much.

Sailor Jay.

There are lots of other tour companies, but the bay is big enough that things spread out pretty quick.

A bunch of big ol' rocks.

Getting those sunset shots. Oh yeah.

We took a day trip to a remote fishing village on this wonderfully vintage looking boat. It was a functional time capsule.

This is the reason I have developed a sweet tooth. Vietnamese coffee.

We went to this super cool cave. It was enormous and very beautiful. It would have been very exciting to have discovered it. We saw names carved into the limestone dating back to the early 1900s. People have been doing that forever apparently.