Halong Bay

Kris and I took a day-trip to Halong Bay. 

 The trip there was a nightmare.  The 3-hour bus ride took 6 hours on account of the bus driver stopping to flirt with random women on the way.  That, plus the blaring techno which was too loud for carrying on any conversation, made for a long and uncomfortable ride.  Once at the bay, the bus stopped in the middle of the highway and made us get off the bus.  Apparently, the driver was now in too much of a hurry to bother with an actual bus stop. We managed to hail a cab, but the driver went careening down the highway on-ramp, head first into a shiny new SUV, then proceeded to attempt running the cab entirely off the road.  We jumped out of the cab and were able to get two motorbikes to take us to the bay itself.

Once there, it was very easy to find a tour.  As it turns out, it was practically a private tour, with only Kris, me, and two Korean men on the double-decker wooden boat.  Halong Bay itself was serene and lovely and made the day worthwhile.  It was the perfect place to test out the panorama function on my little camera.  The bay featured several giant rock formations jutting from the sea like skyscrapers.  We docked at one formation to tour the huge cave inside.  Then, we cruised to a tiny floating village made up of tiny wooden shacks and decks.  We spent about three hours cruising around the rock formations before heading back to shore.        

A typical cruising boat on Halong Bay

                                                           

The dragon head of my boat

The huge rocks make the boats look small.

Heading towards the cave

Inside the cave

View from the cave mouth





Floating village on the left

Floating village

Back towards shore