The next morning we made the very long four hour bus ride to Ha Long Bay where we found our home for the night, a junkboat. There were dozens of these boats lined up getting ready to take people out and ours was big enough to easily fit our group of 16.
The rooms were small but each had a bathroom for convenience and there was a big main area where we ate our meals. We had a chef on board and the food was consistently delicious and very appealing to the eye. They served shrimp, vegetables, rice and a number of other tasty items.
During our time in Ha Long Bay, we took a ferry to the coolest cave I'd ever been to, Sung Sot Cave. Hoane got our tickets and we headed up the stairs to go inside. After, we even got to take some kayaks out onto the water.
Dinner on the junkboat was another wonderful feast that included beer that lasted late into the night. We jumped off the roof deck into the water, played cards with the staff and enjoyed a fun night aboard our junkboat.
The next day involved more swimming and a jaunt to a local floating village where we each paid $5 for a canoe ride through caves and past a small school. I would definitely recommend this, if only to see how strong those oar-wielding women are!
Ha Long Bay was one of the coolest experiences I had on my entire Semester at Sea trip. And it didn't hurt having an amazing tour guide and group for the adventure.
