Day 6-7 - Halong Bay

We rented a classic junk to take us to see Halong Bay's amazing karst limestone islands that rise up from the water like teeth, then moor overnight among the islands under what was (within a day or so) a full moon. Sounds very adventurous and romantic......

...until you realize that we shared our boat with about 12 other travellers and our boat was one of 40-50!

Our group was typical (i.e., comprising those travelling for different reasons, different lengths of time and to different locations) that represented Spain, England, Germany, USA, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand (as well as the great White North of course)

We spent the day touring the islands in fantastic warm sunshine, swimming at sunset, walking through grottos, then sleeping in our cabin on the lee side of the moon and located over the engine (not, alas, a Cooper Bessemer) which joined a chorus of about 50 other engines that emitted fumes all night long. Most UNESCO sites are perhaps a little more environmentally aware, but then this whole tourism thing is still fairly new to the country and the Vietnamese have embraced the short tour thing, with all sort of entrepreneurial touches (some more welcome than others - hawkers are particularly persistent although I was tempted with a small flashlight that produced the image of a buxom Vietnamese girl in a swimsuit on whatever you shone the light on!).

We were bemused to see that there were many litter bins throughout the largest caverns, inexplicably in the shape of penguins.

The next day we kayaked around the island, getting a closer look at the soaring carion birds, the masses of black and gold and blue buttelrfiles, and little altars placed here and there where the limstone has eroded away, but not enough to form a cave, as well as woven fishing coracles and huts on floats.

Very relaxing

Then sober reality hit on our way back to Hanoi when we witnessed two road accidents, both involving moto drivers. Yet another reminder to take each day.....