Halong Bay trip

We had a wonderful time on the boat Treasure Junk, and good weather, though rather hot and humid ("36 C feels like 40 C" (104 F.).  So it was good to be on the water, kayaking as well as swimming in the warm salt water.

Setting out in kayaks on the first afternoon

Bucket hat, long sleeves - the sun was fierce and we went for shade when there was some

Heading back to the boat as the sun starts to go down, with the tender at the side of the boat

The boat was only 5 years old, and sometimes the GPS would be up on the TV, so we could see exactly where we were - you can see a bit of the dining room reflected on the screen...

On day two, there were only 4 of us 2 nighters for the kayaking. Thuan, our guide, is pointing out something in a cave we stopped to check out.  Of course we had to watch for sleeping dragons around every corner.  Legend has it that dragons created the islands in the bay.  Ha means descending and long means dragon.  Responding to a call for help from people on the coast, a mother dragon and her little ones carried pearls in their mouths and dropped them in the ocean to create the archipelago and deter invaders from the sea. Geologists would say something about limestone karsts and tectonic plates but we like the dragon story (maybe we've been watching too much Game of Thrones.)  

A fishing boat in the bay

The morning of day 3 suddenly the sails were up - for a photo op perhaps?  The tender took us to a float, where we got into bamboo boats; the oarsmen and women rowed us past a floating fishing village, then on towards an arch

Whole families live on the floating village, some with guard dogs; this one looks quite placid

This dog however was barking and snarling and saying "I'll rip your throats out if you come any closer"

We went right up to this beautiful arch; there were stalactites starting to form, and small hanging gardens

They row the bamboo boats standing up which allows them to lean into the oars. They took us to a small pearl farming operation.  We exited through the gift shop, got on the tender, and went back to the boat for a second breakfast/brunch, after which it was time to leave the boat, go back to shore, and wait for the van that would take us back to Hanoi.