We're On A Boat!

Despite neither of us ever having taken a cruise before, we splurged on a 2-night excursion into Ha Long Bay. We knew we were in for it when they dropped rose petals onto us from the upper deck as we boarded.

Our ship was the Paradise Elegance. It's owned by the same hotel we stayed at the night before, which meant they were the same great beds, which was quite the luxury.

The overcast weather didn't take away from the majesty of the karsts.

Not a bad view from the sun deck, eh?

Our activity for the afternoon was to kayak around the "largest floating village" in Ha Long.

The village, as you can see, was not actually very big. 

There were some sweet-looking house boats though. 

Plus, we got hustled by a woman on a boat selling beer. Total negotiation failure on our part, but it was worth it to sip a "bia" in the middle of the bay while on a kayak.

We hunkered down for the night in a part of the bay where apparently all the cruise ships hang at night. The fog between the karsts made for an eerily beautiful scene.