Monday

November 25-27, 2011 Halong Bay

We flew in late on the 25th to Hanoi and then got up early for a 3 hour drive to Halong Bay. The roads are so congested and the driver was beeping the horn continually! So much so that Gene had a headache. We found out that the honking is just a consideration to the motor bikes that dart in and out of the traffic. I don’t know how many times we came close to colliding with one.





Halong Bay was designated a World Heritage site in 1994. There are over 2000 incredible islands rising from the Gulf of Tonkin. We took a Chinese Junk (Victory Star) through the bay. We spent 3 days and 2 nights on the junk in the Presidential Suite. The room was awesome! And the food was fabulous!


We went in bamboo boats through a fishing village. The boats held about 4 people and the person rowed us through the village.






Then we headed into a cave that is the largest cave in the world and walked around! It is called Hang Sung Sot (Surprise Cave). One of the areas is called the “cock rock” which is regarded as a fertility symbol. I’ll let you figure out which one that is.






Later in the day we had the opportunity to go swimming off the back of the Junk. Here is Gene bobbing around with his broken finger out of the water.

We had time on a beach that had a hiking trail too.


Check out the butterfly in the above picture.
Then Gene and another person from the boat went kayaking

Later we lounged on the upper deck of the boat.

On our last day I was sick. I was up most of the night and couldn’t get out of bed the next morning. On the last day the group went to Leon Cave with monkey’s! Gene said it was the best excursion and I missed it!




Other pictures of Halong Bay















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