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Thankfully it wasn’t raining when our van stopped. It was a long three hour drive until we had reached Ha Long Bay. We packed up our bags and headed into a building where we waited until we were called onto our boat. It was super exciting to be able to spend two whole nights on a cruise ship! I’ve always wanted to do something like that. We entered the building and rested for a little while. T wasn’t going to come with us. He was going to spend time with his family.

I noticed a lot of families there, and I was hoping I would be able to make friends with some of them. It turns out I made several.

We were called to the boat

and we gathered up our stuff and walked out onto the docks. We talked to a nice Argentinean family along the way. We stepped onto our boat and handed our passes to the captain. As we did, pink flower petals were sprinkled onto our heads. I looked up and a woman smiled at us with flower petals in her hands. It was like we were getting married or something. It was funny. My jaw dropped open as we walked further into the boat. It was really nice.

The walls were made up of pretty dark wood and the floors were cheery-colored. It was also really awesome to have my own room! The head guide gave a little talk and we received our keys. I literally ran down two flights of steps to reach my room: 102. There were three levels on the boat. I fell in love with my room.

It was so cool. The room was small, but big enough for two people. There were two beds and a nice table in between. The bathroom was pretty big too and I had a view of the water. I could open the window and crawl out onto the ledge of the boat and sit. The windows were shaped in the form of a circle with black designs on them. The door was solid, except for the small circled porthole window you couldn’t see through. For the ten minutes we had to settle in, I plopped down on my bed and unpacked some of my stuff. Then it was lunch time. After lunch we had some time to explore the ship a little bit. My mom, my dad and I walked up to the very top of the boat at looked out a the view. To tell the truth, there wasn’t much of a view, but it was cool just to see what it was like. For the first time, I’m on a cruise ship named Paradise Cruise!

Our first stop was a spectacular cave. Everywhere you walked you could look to either side and see unique formations of limestone that were carved by the water. Each part of the cave was illuminated with a glow of different colored lights.

We took lots of pictures! After exiting the cave, we headed back to the boat. While we were riding to a beach with a nice view, an Australian family introduced me to their kids. One of them was my age and her name was Ella, and her younger sister was named Greta. They were such a nice family!

We talked while we walked up 400 steps. At the top, the view was disappointing because everything was misty and foggy. At the bottom my mom and I took turns posing in front of the big board that contained a picture of the clear view. So we just pretended we were really there.

After the cave we went back to the boat. We had cooking class and they taught us how to make traditional Vietnamese spring rolls. They were really good. Then I met another Australian family with a nice girl, Julia. We talked the whole rest of dinner and played Uno at night. We fished a little and that was a day.

Julia’s family was staying for one night. In the morning we woke up early and had a quick breakfast. Ella’s family was the only other family that came with us. That day we were going to spend the day on a day boat. We traveled a short way on a small boat until we reached a nice day tour boat. We were greeted by another tour guide and we had a proper breakfast. We putted over to an island and biked for awhile.

We reached a little village where we took a walk in the jungle and explored a dark cave. It was funny because I scared the heck out of Ella’s mom. The hike was fun because I got to talk with Ella and Greta. We got a family photo out in the jungle.

After the hike we hopped back on our bikes and peddled back to the little boat. Then we got on the kayaks and rowed a while. I kayaked with Ella. We flailed as we attempted to steer the kayak and ended up drenching ourselves in water.

After a while, we entered a little clearing. We kayaked into a small tunnel and out into the most beautiful place I’ve visited yet. The water was a pretty aqua blue; the sun was just peaking through the trees and bushes. We even saw a squirrel like the one in the Madagascar movie.

After the kayak ride we headed back to the big boat and Ella and Greta and I played some more cards. At dinner, I tasted ostrich meat for the first time. Okay!

It was hard saying goodbye to them. I had such a good time. We ate our breakfast and then packed up our bags. Rolling our bags out of our room, we thanked the staff and headed out to the dock where we first arrived. We gave hugs to Ella’s family and exchanged numbers. Hopefully I’ll see them again!