Halong Bay

Made it to Halong Bay after a 3 hour bus ride and embarked on a 2 day, 1 night cruise round the bay. This is another Unesco World Heritage Site and is voted by many as one of the 10 natural wonders in the world. Stunning views as 2,000 karsts, hundreds of feet high rise sheer out of the sea with 100's of sea eagles swooping from the crags.

I don't think my pictures, taken on a dull day will do justice but here are some examples....this was 5 minutes out from the harbour.



We also visited a huge cave system, Thien Cung, only very recently discovered but spectacular. Again, camera can not capture what the eye can take in but here is an impression.



This was me being brave high up again after coming out of the cave, with my Luang Prabang tee shirt on....been there done that.




And one of the boat I was on...



I had taken the tour for $35 including all meals, transport etc and disappointed to find the younger set had paid only $27 but, to see one of the world's wonders, who cares. Cabins were supposed to be shared on the boat, and with 3 couples, 2 Canadian girls travelling together and six female dancers from Sweden the options were interesting but I eventually had this little cabin to myself and woke to this eye level view of other boats moored in the bay.





Have finally found the explanation for how these karsts are formed, bit scientific this, but apparently this is where a dragon flew down from the sky and descened into the sea. Now why don't they teach that in Geography.

Got back to Hanoi for one last night, the capital city, after the sublime scenery at Halong Bay, is once again a shock to the senses. Here is the view from my bedroom window of the power and telecommunications network. In one place I saw an engineer sitting like a bird in a nest amongst the cables doing a repair, no other support, just this mass of cables. Amazing.



Off to Tam Coc in the morning then sleeper bus in the evening to Hue, leaving from Ninh Binh, so no need to come back north to Hanoi, will arrive 6am. Plan now looks like: Hue, Hoi An, Dalat, HCMC. The bus is $60 for an open ticket all the way to HCMC. Fantastic value, providing I can sleep.