Leisure Time at Halong Bay

Located near Northern Vietnam in the South China Sea is a beautiful bay featuring thousands of limestone islands.  The most famous part of this bay is known as Halong Bay. It’s unique geography and pristine setting make it a UNESCO world heritage site.  During our trip back to Vietnam, Megan and I explored Halong Bay and neighboring Cat Ba Island via a cruise with Vega Travel.

Enjoying the scenery on one of our more relaxing vacations.

 Boat Life

We arrived at Halong Bay after a treacherous 4 hour bus ride from Hanoi on 1-lane roads with many narrow accident misses.  Our tour guide and boat team helped us navigate the hectic bay and make the way to our Junk Boat.  One of the cool things about Halong Bay is the number of interesting boats.  There are plenty of authentic Junk Boats operated by tour operators that give the bay an authentic Vietnamese feel.  Each boat has lodging available for guests and staff, as well as a kitchen, a dining room, and a sun bathing deck.  Families and crew live onboard.  They work to make each guest's experience relaxing.  It was a like a mini-cruise ship experience.  Throughout our trip we had excellent views of the numerous limestone islands.  Megan and I enjoyed hanging out with the little kids living on board.  There was a cute 2 year old girl who enjoyed playing with our food and a 5 year old little boy who loved playing soccer with us.       

Panorama of the bay from our boat.

Good friends and food

We also met some interesting travelers from all over the world.  There were couples from Germany, France, Ireland and two other couples from the US.  Although it sounds like a "couples retreat" it wasn't all that bad.  People shared war stories from their travels and tips on what to do and see in the region.  We enjoyed drinking and getting to know the Irish folks Alex and Sarah.  The family from the US was great, they taught us a bunch about Vietnamese food and were real fun to spend time with.  Throughout the cruise we were feed really well.  The food quality was solid and the variety of Asian cuisines was nice.  Some of the highlights were: grilled fish, fried shrimp balls, and spring rolls.  It was impressive how excellent the meals were despite the limitations of a small kitchen and boat supplies.   We also enjoyed attentive and inventive bar service.

Adventures on the Bay

Exploring a cave in Halong Bay.

While on the bay we were able to explore the beautiful sights up close.  We had opportunities to kayak at dusk and dawn.  At dusk we entered a peaceful cove that was inhabited by adventurous monkeys.  We got up close and personal with them as they climbed down the jagged limestone cliffs to check us out.  The setting was movie-like in its serene lush aesthetics.  We also were able to kayak around the floating villages of fish and oyster farms.  It was fascinating to the see the juxtaposition of the gritty shanties next to the beautiful abundance of the bay.  While life may be beautiful for the locals it was certainly not easy.

Many of the limestone islands also had interesting caves.  We toured the largest one and were treated to fascinating sights of geological formations.  Our tour guide was hilariously inventive with the animal shapes he saw in the rocks.  Some of his greatest finds were: a lucky turtle, a dragon, a shark, and kissing chickens.  We hiked to the top of one of the islands to get a great panorama of the Bay. 

Boats in the Bay in the early morning

The gritty boating villages in the Bay.

Cat Ba Island Fever

On the last full day of our trip we visited Cat Ba island which neighbors Halong Bay.  There we biked through the country side and saw farms, jungles, mountains and villages all on the same island.  The highlight for me was channeling my inner Tarzan as I climbed a mountain side using a few footholds and ginormous tree roots.  We spent the night in Cat Ba city which isn't much to blog about.  The rainy weather (really the only bad weather we've had in all our weekend trips) was a bit of a downer but even without it there seemed to be little to do and see during non-peak season. 

Climbing the caves in Cat Ba's jungles, using only
tree branches and rocky make-shift footholds.

On the beach taking a break from kayaking.

Conclusion

Seeing Halong Bay was great.  There was a bit of adventure but the main benefits were good service and seeing one of the most beautiful and unique places in the world.  It is definitely worth the trip.   

Relaxation at Rawa

Megan and I recently traveled to Rawa for the weekend with our friend Jesse McGannon.  We had been contemplating a Rawa trip but to officially book it, it finally took a friend coming to town.  Rawa is a pretty undeveloped island in the South China Sea off the eastern coast of peninsular Malaysia.  The island is quite unknown due to this lack of development.  For the weekend it was a perfect spot to relax.

Rawa the beautiful

Getting to Rawa requires a 3 hour cab ride to Mersing and a 30 minute boat ride through the South China Sea.  There's definitely something adventurous and romantic about having to take a boat to get somewhere.  We passed a number of small jungle islands and ragged rocks as we traveled across the sea.  Upon reaching Rawa we were treated to beautiful sights.  The beaches of Rawa were white sand and they mixed perfectly with the light blue water.  We saw corals and schools of fishes as the boat pulled up to the small wooden dock.  The resort shelters were separate bungalows that tastefully blended in with the cliffs and vegetation on the island.  The environment made us forget the outside world and made us excited to explore.  It was similar to the feeling one gets as a kid when they arrive at the first day of camp.  

Resort bungalows built right on the shoreline

Fun in the sun

Right away we wanted to explore, play with all the cool stuff and meet new friends.  After checking in, we changed in to beach attire and made a bee-line to the one of the sweetest water slides.  It was around 3.5 stories tall and had vicious turns that would invariably almost throw us out of the slide.  A number of times kids would go down it, get owned by the aggressive speed of the slide, start crying, and then immediately run to get back in line again.  

The destroyer - kids beware!

After about 3 (or more like 10) times down the slide, we rented kayaks and snorkel equipment.  The kayaks were great for seeing the undeveloped jagged coastline on the other sides of the island.  The caves, waterfalls, and cliffs were quite interesting.  Since Rawa is right on coral, there is great snorkeling and diving within swimming/walking distance.  At low tide I was able to get a great view of the coral reefs.  I even found Nemo!

Nemo and Dad in the Sea Anemones 

And of course no beach vacation would be complete with out some sports on the beach.  We recruited from the young/fun resort and coaxed some folks into the playing.  The diversity of visitors was quite impressive.  We meet people from Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and England.  We all had a blast playing despite the net being so low that even Tom Cruise could spike on it.

Playing with the boys

Sunset and Night time activities

At night we enjoyed a BBQ buffet filled with eastern and western delights.  There was cocktails, beer, and soccer on the big screen for all to enjoy.  After dinner we ventured back over to the young/fun resort and hung out with our international friends.  It was a bit like a house party combined with the Hangge Uppe.  Good times.

Relaxing by the beach before sunset

Jesse likes Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain, but mostly sunsets

Conclusion

Sunday afternoon had us traveling back to the real world and modern civilization.  We all had a little sun and were ready to regroup before the next week.  Rawa was an awesome hidden gem in Malaysia.  The environment is glorious without being overdeveloped like many of the popular tourist getaway spots.  The activities were numerous and the people were interesting without being to numerous.  I would highly recommend Rawa to both young travelers and families alike.