Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is one of Vietnam's most renowned locations, and it finds itself listed among UNESCO's World Heritage sites. It's apparently also been a film location of a James Bond movie scene. Even though it's only a 3.5 hour bus ride from Hanoi, I hadn't made it there this year until last Thursday. With Sarah, a couple of Vietnamese friends, and a Singaporian acquaintance, we took a very long day-trip to visit. The early morning started off with a four hour bus ride, and then continued on a two-decker wooden boat where we saw this:

As you can see, it's a bay scattered with thousands of these karst islands. (I recently learned that a karst mountain/island is a large piece of limestone jutting upward out of the earth.) At the beginning of the tour, our guide told us that we would get to see the largest of the fishing villages. What I didn't realize is that the fishing villages are villages made up of boats and rafts (see below). One boathouse was even the designated school. Can you imagine growing up here?

Brings a whole new meaning to the words "mini-mart" and "concession stand." (I can't decide which is the better comparison).

There are a number of caves that have formed inside these karst structures over the years and we got to take a whirlwind tour of the largest. Of course, it woulda been boring with just white lights. Gotta have the color so that, amidst all the incredible formations, you don't forget you're in Vietnam.




 Then we had a 20 minute kayaking adventure. Nga's first time ever! Well, mine too, for that matter, I guess. We weren't the most coordinated but we manged to get around without crashing into anything.

And of course, it wouldn't be Vietnam if there weren't construction going on somewhere nearby. Check out the guy IN the tube and ON the type welding.

After about four hours on the boat, we arrived back at the dock, loaded onto a bus, and survived the four hour trip home again, exhausted. Good but full day.