Halong Bay : Day 2 & 3

Bhaya Classic

On the road for 4 hours, we finally arrived at the well-known world heritage -- Halong Bay. Majority of the islands on Halong Bay are limestones formed 500 million years ago and they are scattered all over. There are many cruise operators at Halong Bay, some cruise are slightly bigger, I believe the activities are similar. You can either spend 1 night or 2 nights on the cruise. We embarked on Bhaya Classic for a delicious Vietnamese buffet lunch. The buffet includes fresh seafood and the famous pho. Bhaya Classic only has 20 rooms and can only house a maximum of 40 passengers. The layout is as follow: 1st floor - room and reception , 2nd floor- room and outdoor massage area, 3rd floor - restaurant , and 4th floor is an open area. The room is small but cosy. 

fresh crab

beef pho

Our cosy room

                                  

At the sundeck

At around 3pm, we went to visit the fishing village by rowing boat, weather was cooling , view was magnificent. I bought 2 Tintin T-shirts at the souvenir booth in the fishing village. 2 rooms were used for schooling purpose. After the boat trip, its our free time, one can choose to swim, massage, kayak or take a rest. We went for a quick shower, missed the demo cooking demonstration on the sundeck. Heard from the rest that the chef demonstrated the cooking of popiah. Dinner was seafood set dinner. All the vessels seemed to have an designated "parking lot", all stopped cruising at night. After watching the French video for a while, the 4 of us spent the night chatting at the sundeck.

                               

Most of the rowers were female

we were in the rowing boat

The next morning, as early as 6.15am , mum and aunties joined the Master shifu for a taiji session. From the deck looking at the sun slowly rising, its a real enjoyment. At that spilt second, time seems to have come to a standstill.  This was my first time watching the entire sunrise on board. Its a memorable moment for all of us, imagine playing Taji as you watch the sunrise. The vessel cruise through the bay, passing through many beautiful spots. After a light breakfast, we went to explore Sung Sot, also known as surprise cave. Its called the surprise cave as you are in for a surprise when you step into the different caves. The challenging part for my tour mates was climbing up the 100 steps. After lunch, we disembarked at the harbor.

massage session

Taji session

                                 

Sunrise

Before we step into the cave

In the surprise cave

Great view taken from the top of the cave