Halong Bay - A Natural Wonder of the World






We took a day trip from Hanoi to visit the world famous Halong Bay. Halong Bay is about 100 miles east of Hanoi, and is famous for its rock formations. We booked a tour for this one, which included a boat cruise, a visit to a couple of caves, lunch, and a stop at a floating village in the middle of the bay. The bay was extremely beautiful, as you can tell from the pictures. We enjoyed the day, and met some nice kiwis (New Zelanders) on the boat to share our time with.

We started the day out by hopping in a 15 passenger van, which was definitely designed for smaller people than us. Needless to say, we were squished! The driver seemed to be of the “ying and yang” variety, using both the gas and break at the same time, causing a few of the children aboard to lose their lunches. Hence, no tip for that driver. The highway we were on was pretty wild, and I was sure we were going to get into an accident, but alas, we arrived safe and sound!

Lunch, the boat and the bay were incredible. The small floating village was interesting to see, but the funniest part of the day was the tour through the caves. For almost an hour, our “tour guide” walked us to different places in the cave, and with a laser pointer showed us vague shapes in the rocks, and then talked about what the “locals” thought they were, giving each a mystical and spiritual description. It was more than a bit over the top though, and turned out to be really funny.

Seriously though, the place was great. Enjoy the pictures!


Laura and a rice paddy.

Some workers in a rice paddy.

A common roadside stall.

Picture of Hanoi.

A church outside of Hanoi

A cow on a motorbike. Yes it was alive. Yes the video is on Youtube.

Some of the landscape on the way to Halong Bay.

Eric at the Halong Bay terminal.

Laura and our boat.

Some people trying to sell us flowers.

A pic of the Halong bay landscape.

Eric and Halong Bay.

Laura and Halong Bay

A pic of the floating village and the surrounding mountains.

Eric and Key Island. It is famous and on the 200,000 dong bill.

Laura and Halong Bay

A cool pic of some of the rocks

A good pic of the Vietnam flag and Halong Bay behind.

Another pic.

Some junks and Halong Bay

Eric and an island

Eric going into one of the caves

Eric in the cave

The sign says, "Not allowed to climb up, scrape down and draw into the stalagmite." So Eric is drawing into the rock here.

Some rock formations in the cave.

Eric and the guide.

Laura in the Jungle on an island

Eric and some of the other Junks
Eric in the cave

And a couple of YouTube videos!








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