This Is A Lake - A travel blog

When I got up today at SCST (my new acronym for Soul-Crushing Six Thirty) the view was definitely clearer. It was still misty and overcast, but you could see further along in the distance. When you can actually see what's around you, the landscape is magnificent: we sailed all morning and as far as the eye could see were only rock formations and the occasional cruise ship. It's hard to overstate just how vast this whole area is. We started the day with a Tai Chi class on deck, followed by breakfast (Vietnamese soup or eggs, at seven in the morning; thank my lucky stars that I was able to get some toast). I went up on the deck and took some pictures of the view. The mist was rolling away on the surface of the water, and the birds chirped unseen, like you would expect from a Chinese myth. Our main and last activity for the morning was to disembark at a small beach (most formations are just rocks jutting out from the water, so seeing a beach is pretty rare). Wh...

I woke up at a soul-crushing 6:30 today to be picked up for my Halong Bay cruise! Halong Bay is this amazing site with all the limestone rocks jutting out of the water that you've probably seen a million times in magazines or movies. It's 180 km from Hanoi, which in Vietnam takes at least four hours (!!) by car. It's not really viable as a day trip, so most people opt to book cruises with one night or two on board. That way you can do one road trip one day and the other on the next. I booked the 2 day/1 night cruise with the Dragon Legend, which goes around Bai Tu Long Bay, a less transited area of Halong Bay. I was picked up at my hotel by a large van with very comfortable seats (important, because it's a long trip ahead!). I was able to leave my bag at the hotel when I checked out, so I'm travelling just with my backpack for the day. You don't need many things for one night and it's not fun to carry large bags around a boat! The road trip...