Ha Long Bay (Part 2)

Remember in my post about House 5 sessions that I said I was only capable of pulling out a 5 star drinking classic occasionally? Well Ha Long turned out to be one of many such nights! From dinner until breakfast, the staff certainly put the ‘Party‘ in ‘Oasis Bay Party Cruise‘. As an aside, I loved this party cruise and wholly recommend it for any new group of teachers or group of friends heading out on a party trip. Oasis Bay also do a more conventional cruise, something I would gladly take the Mammy and Daddy on and has more emphasis on comfort than jagerbombs. Check them out if you are visiting Vietnam in the future and wish to see Ha Long Bay in all its beauty.

If you missed Part 1, read here.

28-Jan-2018

The night began with dinner. Similar to lunch, there was a plethora of dishes to choose from. Being in the cruise mood, I had the seafood with pumpkin soup. I was excited to have the soup as my mum would have cooked up some killer soups every Halloween. The clams were delicious and I had a rum to kick off the night. It was a great start, sharing banter around the table and seeing the twinkle of ship lights out of the windows.

Then after eating the Vietnamese staff came out to the main dancefloor, dressed in palm tree designed shirts and performed a dance show for us! It wouldn’t feel out of place at a European campsite but it was performed much better and with enthusiasm. It had us game for all sorts of dancing after, such as to Waka Waka. We then had a plethora of party games, beginning with the classic flip cup challenge, followed by lots more choreographed dancing and then morphing into a club night. Some forfeit was involved to the losers of flip cup but it slipped my mind as the night progressed.

As mad as the night was becoming, it did feel like it split neatly into 3 situations: Meeting up with Rebecca at regular intervals in the room, usually to give out about the trap house remixes of 90’s classics, dancing to said remixed classics, and then finally to hop into the hot tub or jacuzzi outside. It felt odd at first to keep coming down to see Rebecca given the main party was upstairs, but I did need a breather from time to time, and she wasn’t a fan of the music anyway. What we did enjoy was having the curtains open and seeing nothing but dark silhouettes of the islands and lights from other cruise ships in the distance. For all the chaos upstairs, the calm, still movement across the bay was wonderful and it was nice to just chill, say nothing and take in such a sight.

But speaking of the chaos, after quite a few hours of people moving from the bar to the hot tubs and to the dancefloor, the floor was getting incredibly slippy. On a few occasions people would slip, but manage to land while still holding a drink in one hand and a balloon in the other. I skidded twice, and it was tricky to dance like crazy and keep an eye on surroundings at the same time. Becca and Pip then used a line in and delivered a few bangers from Fountains of Wayne to Sum 41. Top notch!

The jacuzzis were the most craic though. People wanted to be in the hot tub and watch the islands go by. Despite being in them 3 times already, and with swim shorts dying, I was tempted to go in again. Then Jack and Odhran went ‘come on Paul, do it!’. Then I ushered something I would continually say when it meant doing daft things. “Do it for Ireland!”

So I just got in in my boxers with a group of 10 of us. We chilled with a few beers, vodkas and just did the classic ‘shitetalking’ for what may have been an hour.
Eventually I got back to my room. Chris was MIA, so I presumed he had found someone to be with for the night. I took off the wet boxers and passed out in the room, on what must have been the most comfortable bed I had been in since arriving in Vietnam. Knowing it was sometime around 4AM, I kinda wished I had gone to bed a few hours early to truly relax in bed. Maybe the 2 night trip would have worked better for that, but a weekend was all the time we had. I was thankful Rebecca didn’t make a song and dance out of me being naked in bed, it was just the state of the night, so we got some rest.

The morning was one that definitely felt like the aftermath of a big night out. The hot tub had been covered, the dancefloor was mopped up, and people were taking stock of some of the madness from the previous night. There was breakfast followed by a spring roll cookery class. While fun in their own way, I was happy to be at the deck watching the islands go by again. Odhran came out and had a smoke as well, taking it all in. The islands simply were breathtaking, and the cruise was going at the perfect pace, as we slowly floated past.

Returning to the main room, we had to pay the bills. I had clocked up a satisfying level of beers and spirits. At least the Bia Hanoi’s were at 35k each and 3 Jagerbombs totalled to less than a tenner. It turned out during the jagerbomb fuelled section of the night that I gave my 3 Nitrous balloons to others as I wasn’t a fan of using them, instead having vodka and rum. Classic.
A few people had bills heading north of a few million dong but none were as amazing as Michael Clegg, who rocked up well over 70 balloons for the night. At one point I was thinking of singing 99 Luftballons just as a joke.

After paying up we all took one last look of the islands before departing the cruise, but the drama wasn’t over; Dawn had got an eye infection from the jacuzzi, so herself and Kim headed to treat her. It also wasn’t clear who was still drunk and who was just hungover as well, so the bus trip back was a mix of loud noises and people just wanting to pass out or go to the toilet. At least the trip back was at a slightly faster pace than the way there.

All in, it was a phenomenal trip that I will never forget. Despite all the partying, there was plenty of scenery to gaze at as well, and I took as many photos as I could possibly take until the memory card was full. It truly felt that not a single minute was wasted, even when a lot of us onboard were wasted! The kayaking and luxury room alone would have made for a wonderful trip, but add in one of the worlds natural wonders and it goes up to a whole new level. Its hard to find anything like Ha Long bay, so I would highly recommend going if you have the chance.

Lonely Planet Guide to ha Long Bay Here:
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/vietnam/northeast-vietnam/halong-bay