Photo Journal: Finding Peace in Halong Bay, Vietnam

I’ve always liked to think of myself as a tomboy. After all, I’ve had my fair share of rough-and-tumble encounters: bodyslams and piledrivers with the brother after Saturday WWF WWE, bruises and scratches after little league practice, and bald patches as a result of fights with playground bullies. But by high school, I was just a tom-eunuch. (I google-imaged “eunuch” for kicks… and wish I really hadn’t)

 

So when Anna, one of my best friends from junior high, heard that someone was picking on me during my freshman year of high school, she (who will always have nerves of steel) trekked all the way up to the Bronx to confront the girl face-to-face.

 

Needless to say, I never heard from that girl again.

 

And Anna? She’s since been my superhero.

 

So when Anna and her newlywed husband decided to come out to Asia for their honeymoon, I just had to make the trek out to meet them. Of the five cities they booked, we met in Halong Bay, Vietnam for a 3-day, 2-night cruise through the UNESCO World Heritage Site’s stunning ocean limestone rock garden across the South Pacific.

 

In contrast to my most memorable image of Anna’s fist, this trip was quite the opposite — peaceful. We took tranquil hikes to the peaks of limestone formations, watched beautiful sunsets in silent awe and lovingly reminisced about memories over nearly two decades.

 

It did take us two decades to appreciate the beauty in a less rowdy scene — but I guess you have to grow up sometime?

 

Cruise:

Paradise Cruises
(+84) 43 941 6666
info@paradisecruises.vn