Kayaking in Vietnam
by Chris on 11th September 2018
Chris is the CEO of The Adventure People and has over 20 years experience in the travel industry.
Some places just have to been seen from the water. One of those places is Halong Bay in Vietnam. The bay is filled with beautiful islands and limestone pillars and there are plenty of boats to choose from to see it and take it all in. Personally I've never been much of a boat person but kayaking, that's another story! Few feelings can compare to the breeze in my hair and the sense of freedom I feel when in a kayak. Now kayaking in one of the most beautiful places in the world doesn't hurt either.
On the day of kayaking a boat picks you up from the beach that carries your kayak and several others to a bit further out where you can paddle freely away from all the boats by the land. Once you've paddled for a few minutes you're free to glide along from pillar to pillar. The water is beautifully green and still, a kayaker's dream. I've only been kayaking a few times and am still slightly shaky in the beginning fearing I'll capsize. But the water here looked so inviting I was longing to go in for a swim the whole time (and did once I returned the kayak to the boat!)
The coolest part I thought that really sets kayaking in Vietnam apart from kayaking anywhere is else were the floating houses where people live! I had been to the floating markets before but seeing that people actually live here was such a crazy, incredible thing to see. They even had a dog!
Along the way I also spotted caves where people were snorkelling and made a mental note to go back and do that one day. Kayaking is something people may not think of first when they think of Vietnam, but I was so pleasantly surprised and couldn't recommend it highly enough!
