Halong bay - too beautiful for words.

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The third day we were again up early, hopped on a bus and headed out to Halong bay for a day out on the water. One of the most amazing, beautiful experiences of my life. Ha Long meaning 'descending dragon' references the story of a dragon flying into the bay and throwing up the islands to defend Vietnam from harm.

The boat was surprisingly pleasant and with a dragon figure head just added all the more to the sense of fairytale about the trip. Also serving fantastic coffee throughout the day - a definite bonus!

First stop was the heavenly cave, a short walk up and into one of the islands suddenly revealed that the whole thing was essentially hollow and riddled with thousands of stalactites and stalagmites twisted in all sorts of beautiful ways and the rock of the ceiling had formed wonderful bubbled shapes. The colourful lights dotted about the place were slightly garish and the throng of tourists took a little bit away from the natural beauty, but still it took my breath away, though I would have loved to explore the place on my own.

Taking a ride in a bamboo boat we rowed through a small gap in the side of an island and entered the centre of it - sitting inside that circle of rock I experienced the most deafening silence of my life.

Climbing to the top of Titop island took a while, 400 very steep steps! And again the masses of tourists could be slightly frustrating but the view at the top was like nothing I have ever seen before.

My favourite part of the day had to be the ride home on the boat though. It was pretty cold and windy so the inside of the boat was full but, deciding to ignore the weather, I sat outside next to the figure head and just watched the islands slide by and the Hawks soar overhead. The silence around the islands wasn't a dead sort of silence but rather like they were just paused, waiting to speak. I could have sat there forever with them in their silent stillness with the Hawks dipping and diving and fishing.

On returning to the hostel we took a walk and found a wonderfully friendly man working in a nearby hostel and sorted out our travel and hotel for tomorrow, very well done considering the lateness of our organisation! On completing this we sat and drank a few cocktails in celebration, ending up having control of the music in the hostel, a lovely end to a fantastic day!

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Photos

Beautiful Ha Long bay.
The view from the top of Titop island, well worth the climb!

Inside an island.
The stalagtites and the shapes in the rock of the roof inside the 'Heavenly cave'.

The 'Fighting cock islands'
These two islands are said to resemble two fighting cockerels.