Vietnam

Vietnam was a whirlwind of activity. When I woke up the first day the ship was cruising down the Ho Chi Minh River, making its way into port. The water was brown but the land on either side was green and reminded me of a tropical paradise. For the first two days in port I walked around Ho Chi Minh City. The city has a lot of French influence, especially in its architecture and food. I went to the main market, visited the War reminisce museum, got a three dollar manicure, fell in love with Vietnamese coffee, and interacted with many enthusiastic Vietnamese people.  One thing that startled me was the organized chaos I called traffic. First I did not see any street light but hundreds of mopeds and cars. To cross the street you literally have to just walk at a steady pace so the traffic can steer around you. You cannot make sudden movements like stopping walking or running because then you WILL get hit. In the beginning I would shadow old Vietnamese people, because I figured if they got to be that old they must know how to cross the street, but by the end I felt like a pro and just crossed on my own.

The rest of my trip was spent in Ha Long Bay, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes surrounded by placid water. It was beautiful I couldn’t believe I was actually there. “Some of the most remarkable geological events in Hạ Long Bay’s history have occurred in the last 1,000 years, include the advance of the sea, the raising of the bay area, strong erosion that has formed coral, and, pure blue and heavily salted water. This process of erosion by seawater has deeply engraved the stone, contributing to its fantastic beauty.” (Wikipedia) We arrived at the bay then we met our Junkboat, which took us into the bay. We Kayaked around, hiked in the caves, and hiked up one of the islands to see a view of the whole bay. It was surreal, sleeping on the Junkboat and waking up surrounded by such beauty.

The final day we took a plane back to Ho Chi Minh from Hanoi. Took a taxi back from the airport and came home to the good old MV Explorer. So happy to see our lovely ship home! One day I want to travel back to Vietnam, it was an incredible port.