Life Abundant

Our Cruise

Two weeks ago, Chris and I had a week off for the most important holiday here in Cambodia, the Khmer New Year. Businesses, schools, and the construction on the campus here in Battambang shut down for a week as people headed home to see their families to ring in the new year. For our break, we decided to head to a country that has long been in our hearts as a desired destination, Cambodia’s neighboring country of Vietnam.

There are so many places to visit in Vietnam so it’s hard to choose, but in the week we spent there I think we settled on a good mix of different sites in the country: Ha Long Bay / Hanoi, Hoi An, and Phu Quoc Island.

We had heard great things about Ha Long Bay from friends who had been there in the past year. Ha Long Bay is also a UNESCO world heritage site and is famous for its jungle-covered limestone rock structures that rise out of the turquoise waters of the Gulf of Tonkin.

We flew into Hanoi (with the discount airline Vietjet) where we met our cruise company and headed north to the bay. There are so many cruise companies to choose from, and routes to take. The things we wanted to do and see in the bay were kayaking, visiting a pearl farm & floating fishing village, and to explore some of the many natural caves that have been carved out over the centuries in these limestone islets. We used Ha Long Bay Cruise’s website where you can easily filter by activity, destination, and price.  The cruise ships are pretty similar as far as accommodation, food, and onboard activities, so choosing your ship’s route and stopping points is more important than choosing the ship itself.

This was our first ever cruise experience, and we loved it!  The staff were friendly, the food was amazing, the accommodation was beautiful, and the price was right. Chris and I don’t sit still very well, so we did every activity on board; including a spring roll cooking class, morning Tai Chi on the roof deck, and night-time squid fishing (I was the only one of our ship who caught a squid, but that’s most likely because I was the only one patient enough to wait around to catch one!)

Vung Vieng Fishing Village

We chose a 3 day 2-night cruise for our time in Ha Long Bay so we could fit in all the activities that we wanted to do. Sadly, we ended up shortening our time on the cruise, because just before our trip the government mandated that the cruise companies stop all kayaking and swimming in the bay for the time being. Meaning we only would be able to visit the fishing village, pearl farm, and one of the caves which were only half of what we were hoping to do.

One of our favorite parts of the cruise was our visit to the Vung Vieng fishing village, which is located in a naturally protected lagoon created by the limestone pillars. We took small bamboo boats from the main ship to explore the floating village. Local villagers are paid to row these boats for tourist companies. They also raise specialty fish to sell in the local fish market and grow cultured pearls to sell in the jewelry market. In the village, we were able to get off the bamboo boat and explore some of the local houses, shops, a tiny school building, and see how they raise the fish and the pearls.  It was fascinating to see how people have lived in these floating villages on the bay for centuries.

Unfortunately, the weather was a bit overcast during our time on the bay, which we hear is pretty common. But even with gray skies the bay is breathtaking and made for some beautiful shots of the limestone, which also provides a great canvas to accentuate the brightly colored boats and houses of the fishing village.