It actually gets chilly here! Fortunately the bed came with thick warm blankets. I got up early, packed, paid US$5 for my room, 60 cents for breakfast (an omelette and baguette), then waited for the large tour bus. We'd booked a 3-day, 2-night tour of Halong Bay for $43.
View of the street outside the hotel
It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive up to Halong City. Our guide shared a variety of interesting facts with us. Apparently 4 million people live in Hanoi and there were 2 1/2 million motorbikes. There's a very high percentage of deaths due to traffic accidents.
The reason there are so many very, very narrow skinny buildings is that people only pay a ground tax and nothing on height, so they buy as small an area as possible and go as high as they can.
The bridge over the Red River
We stopped briefly at an exceedingly expensive handicraft store. I was more fascinated by the wine with cobras and scorpions.
At 10:30, we arrived in Halong City. The name means "where the dragon descended into the sea" and refers to the legend of how the bay was carved out by the sharp flailing tail of a dragon. The Vietnamese are known as the descendants of the dragon. Being located only 90 miles from China, this area has seen many invasions over the centuries.
300 million years ago, this was a sea. 50,000 years ago, there was no water here. Now the water is about 30 feet deep. Some 775 tall limestone islands fill the bay. Most of them are only inhabited by animals.
After our passports were checked, we were sent across a narrow wooden plank to a boat... only to cross that boat to another one bumped up next to it. Many many boats were all wedged together. We wandered around until it was time to depart.
Our path led us past all other boats. They drive their boats like they drive their cars, with lots of near misses! Eventually we were out on the water. It was extremely hazy out, and the water, sky and land were all just various shades of grey green. There were islands absolutely everywhere and they formed a kind of complex maze.
Many of these islands are made from limestone, which lends itself well to forming caves. Bo Hon island is home to one such spectacular cave... Sung Sot cave (Cave of Awe or Cave of Surprises). It was discovered in 1901 by the French.
Bo Hon island
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