A 3 hour bus ride east of Hanoi would take us to Halong Bay, a UNESCO world heritage site (protected from development). Halong Bay is made up of over 6,000 limestone islands and feeds into the Gulf of Tonkin. We signed up with one of the dozens of tour operators that offer a two night trip on a ‘junk boat’ to cruise along the islands and do some other fun stuff.
Song Sat Cave in Halong Bay
Although the islands are essentially uninhabitable, there are a couple “floating villages”. We were able to visit one by sea kayak.
Most of the villagers fish for a living and trade with ships that come from the mainland.
A kid from the village paddled out from his house… on a tiny boat that he paddled with his feet!
He went back to shore and came back with his two sisters… asking us if we wanted to buy a pretty oyster shell. They were too cute… we couldn’t refuse!
We handed our camera to our guide to take a picture…
The following day, we motored to an area that was surrounded by little private beaches… we kayaked over to one and relaxed for a few hours.
Glad to see this trip isn't only about hiking through the mountains. A little r&r on the beach? Perfect! =)
ReplyDeleteCute cats, cute baby elephants, cute kids--is there a "cute" sub-theme going on here. If there is, keep it up! Amazingly beautiful island scenes are also good.
ReplyDeleteThe islands remind me of 007 movies. Exotic...of course look where you are and where you have taken us with the blogspot...thanks.
ReplyDeletebeauty!
ReplyDelete