After Brunei, it was on to Vietnam to meet up with my travel friends for a big party! We were starting in Hanoi. It felt a lot less overwhelming this time than it did when I visited in 2023. Part of that is that I have traveled a lot since then. That was my first trip in Southeast Asia. This time, I was coming back to somewhere I’d already visited, I had more experience under my belt, and I was traveling with friends, which made it a much more relaxed proposition than figuring it out on my own. After a flight from Brunei to Singapore, a long layover, and a second flight to Hanoi, we grabbed dinner and went for a massage.
The next morning, we were off to meet up with everyone else! We took a shuttle from Hanoi out to the Ba Vi National Park, where we were staying in a resort. It was so beautiful, and it was nice to see a little more of the countryside in Vietnam. It was also an interesting experience to do a little road trip through Vietnam – I was very impressed with their rest stops and food options when driving through the countryside.
We had various dinners and activities and cocktail parties while we were there. It was so much fun to have the whole resort to ourselves to spend time with everyone. I was able to catch up with people across a lot of different trips!
From there, it was off to Ha Long Bay. This was a long day, because Ba Vi is several hours west of Hanoi and then Ha Long Bay is several hours east of Hanoi. Plus, most of the bus was hungover from the previous night. But once we got on the boat, it was really nice. I have been to Ha Long Bay once before – I think we were in a different section, based on the activities that we had available, but I loved it then and I loved it now.
This one was Catherine Cruises, and I would recommend them as well based on my experience. The biggest negative was this absolutely appalling beer pour:
The wet floor sign on the rocks cracked me up as well.
We had two activities on the boat – one was the Sung Sot Cave, and the other was kayaking (which I don’t have any photos of, but was very enjoyable). Sung Sot Cave was incredibly crowded, especially at the beginning. Once we got into the larger cavern at the end, though, the temperature was so pleasant and there was room to breathe.
The rock formations were nice as well. I wish they would tell the tourists that there are more rooms of the cave – if people would go faster through the first part and spend more time in the third room, the whole experience would be so much more pleasant.
This is what it truly felt like ^^
Overall, it was a great trip to Vietnam. I had a lot of fun, I saw so many friends of mine, and I was in some beautiful areas of the country. With that, it was on to the next part of the trip: Myanmar!