Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is my favourite place on earth. When we lived in Hanoi, we'd take a cruise ship out for the weekend several times a year, often on my birthday. I'd take a couple friends along with my family, spend the night in a sleeping bag on the deck, and jump off the side of the boat straight into the ocean in the day.

This year, my entire family was together for the first time in seven years. We rented a ship to ourselves and bussed from Hanoi to the docks. The accommodations onboard were far nicer than I'd remembered from a decade ago, and it was easy to immediately get comfortable.

I climbed straight onto the top deck when we boarded and as the boat started moving, I felt happier than I could remember feeling since I was a kid.

We went kayaking that same afternoon and ended with a swim on the beach. Though I'd seen the bay many times before, it was still stunning to be back in the midst of it.

We got back to the ship around sunset and all sat on the deck munching on grilled squid and chatting as music played from loudspeakers in the background. Dinner was served on the main floor and included lots of delicious seafood.

It was a full moon that night, which we could still glimpse through the thick clouds of monsoon season. We had fortunately evaded rain that day, but the night brought along a raging thunderstorm.

The rain stopped by ten the following morning and we went on another kayak trip, this time for two hours. Again, we stopped at beaches along the way to swim. The biggest disappointment of the weekend was that we were no longer able to jump off the deck and swim as freely as we'd used to, for two reasons: regulations had tightened, and each time I looked in the water, jellyfish were in view -- sometimes a dozen at once.

The afternoon was spent relaxing on deck. We passed by several fishing villages on our way, but it had gotten too hot to disembark and explore. The morning after that, we went down to one more beach and through a cave before heading back to shore.