Cruising in the magical Halong Bay

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I arrived in Halong bay at the end of the year just a few days before Christmas time.

I had the possibility to choose between one or two days trip and I went for the longer option.

Unfortunately I was a bit unlacky with the weather but was still amazing, magnificent limestone karsts unfolding in front of me and immediately I repented myself to have two days only here in this paradise.

It was a nice wooden boat sailing amidst these fantastic scenary. We had also a guide explaining the Ha Long Bay location in the Gulf of Tonkin, which has got about 1,600 islands forming great rock formations.

While sailing along these islands there were little boats, that appeared seldomly, of local fishermen adding more attraction to this place.

Some of the pillars had erosions that created beautiful arches in it. There are also caves that were formed through geological times.

Each had a different form and shaped taller than others giving a really characteristic ambiance to the are and also the cloudy weather added a bit of ghostly atmosphere.

As everywhere, tourism is increasing and some concerns about environmental issues are arising and large plans for the conservation of the World Heritage site have been developed for the protection of the flora and fauna of Ha long Bay.

We then stopped to Vong Vieng fishing village, I love these floating houses and seeing the local people and the fishermen coming back to their home with the fresh caught of the day.There were a few cages with different varieties of fish and lovely kids smiling and playing.

We did also some Kayaking to enjoy the scenary from a different perspective and visited the nearby caves of Thien Canh Son.

I then left the boat trip to stay one more night in Cong Tay Island which is still untouched by the big tourism industry that is now taking over a bit everywhere around Ha Long Bay.

All in all it was a good experience to visit Ha Long Bay even though a bit touristic in some parts but worth of a visit.

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Comments

[Dancing Dave]

Halong Bay
Definitely on my list if I can return to Vietnam, Marcos. There are some places that look like ambience in abundance...and this looks like one of them.

[Travelphilosophy]

Halong Bay
Magical!!!