"Ha Long Bay is in northeastern Vietnam and has a 120 kilometre long coastline and is approximately 1,553 square kilometres in size with 1969 islets. Local legend says that long ago when the Vietnamese were fighting Chinese invaders, the gods sent a family of dragons to help defend the land. This family of dragons began spitting out jewels and jade. These jewels turned into the islands and islets dotting the bay, linking together to form a great wall against the invaders. The people kept their land safe and formed what later became the country of Vietnam. After that, dragons were interested in peaceful sightseeing of the Earth and decided to live here then. The place where Mother Dragon flew down was named Hạ Long".
It's the place to go when you're up in north Vietnam. We chose just to do a day tour although I wish we'd done a 2 or 3 day one now, but nevermind. Just a reason to go back there, haha. We got a minibus there and then got on to our boat. And enjoyed every bit of scenery as we went along. Pictures or descriptions don't really do it much justice but it was really beautiful. We got chatting to a lovely couple called Neil and Sally who were really nice. Had some lunch on the boat, then went off to some caves which were great except they were riddled with tourists. And not only that but they'd put loads of illuminated lights in the caves so you couldn't really appreciate the naturalness I don't think. Blackpool illuminations came to mind. Then back on boat, round a bit more and then back to be taken back to Hanoi. Really nice day though.
That evening we just chilled out in a jazz club who were clueless about their drinks. And the night after that we met up with Neil and Sally again for a fun night out in Hanoi.
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