From Hanoi, we drove three hours before we reached Halong Bay and boarded the Pheonix boat. Halong Bay is an area with more than 3,000 small islands jutting out from the Gulf of Tonkin. "Halong" means "where the dragon descends into the sea." As an aside, the city of Hanoi was previously called "Thang Long," which means ascending dragon. In Vietnamese, "Hanoi" is two words (as is "Viet Nam") and means "inside the river."
There are many stories as to how the islands in Halong Bay were formed--the scientific one (by tectonic activity) and the tales told by Asians. The Asian stories are much better. Both involve a flying dragon who lived in the mountain. In the first story, the dragon carried a mouthful of pearls to Halong Bay. When he dropped the pearls from his mouth, the pearls grew into these islands. In the second story, as the dragon flew from the mountains to the sea, his flapping tale carved out gorges and valleys into the rock. When the dragon reached the sea and his body plunged in, water flooded the area, which made only the stone pinnacles visible.
Halong Bay was designated a World Heritage site in 1994. At 2 a.m. during our first night on board the Pheonix, it officially became one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. To celebrate, there was a fireworks celebration in Halong City. Unfortunately, the fireworks were too far away for us to see them.
En route to Halong Bay, we drove through rice fields with factories interspersed between the fields. Companies in many countries, including China, build factories in Vietnam because the labor is cheap.
Workers in the rice fields.
We also crossed the Red River, which carries many of the minerals that make the rice fields fertile.
We finally reached the dock and boarded the Pheonix.
This was our boat for day 1 of the trip. Four of us were heading out for a three-day cruise and eleven others boarded for a two-day cruise. Our group included people from Belgium, Germany, Spain, Australia, the Ukraine and America (2--myself and Starr, a girl from Kansas City, Missouri).
The accommodations were a little better than I expected. We were able to shower with hot water only when the motor wasn't running.
The lounging area.
These are the small islands that jut up from the water. Fishermen and their families are the only people who live in the bay.
We cruised around the bay and eventually made it to Hung Sung Sot, which is a cave inside one of the limestone mountains/islands
It took 300 million years to form the caves, which grew at about 1cm every 100 years.
This was a popular spot to take a photo....
View of the bay from outside the caves. Besides the departing dock, this was probably the busiest area in the bay.
We kayaked around a few of the islands before heading back to the boat for dinner. We ate family style and had a seafood feast.
Tomorrow four of us are going on a kayaking trip around a more remote area of the bay. The rest of the group is spending a few more hours in the bay and then journeying back to Hanoi.
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Location:Halong Bay, Vietnam
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