Xin chao!

As we promised we would post a more detailed report about our trip to Halong Bay. Halong Bay is quite a legendary area for locals. The legend tells that Halong Bay was made by a dragon that was called upon by a Vietnamese emperor when Vietnam was in war with China. In order to protect Vietnam from the Chinese invaders, the dragon who came down on earth with her children spit out jewels into the sea which dotted together and formed a great wall. The ships of the invaders crashed into the wall and saved Vietnam. Since the dragons quite liked the environment they decided to descend into the sea and stay in Halong Bay, which explains the name, Halong Bay means the Bay of the descending dragon.

Having been there we can imagine that the dragon decided to stay in the area, because it really is beautiful. There are 1969 limestone karsts in the area, which make up for an amazing surrounding landscape. Vegetation is growing on the limestone, so there as an interesting wildlife to watch such as different species of birds and monkeys.

We chose to do a 3 day 2 night tour as it was recommended by a lot of people that we met while travelling. The time we spend on our pretty boat was just enough to get a good feeling of the life in the bay and to enjoy the landscape. During our stay we visited several caves, went to a floating village of around 300 people, and enjoyed some of the free activities such as kayaking. Only six of us (Franjo and me and 2 funny English couples) stayed for the 3 days, others on the boat only stayed for two days, but we had a great time together, indulging the good food (highly luxurious for us backpackers you must know!), playing some Vietnamese card games and discovering the area. The crew, that stays on the boat for 24 days straight and then have 6 days off, did their very best to entertain us. We even tried to do some squid fishing for two nights in a row, but for some reason we were unsuccessful. They kept telling us that it was the wrong moon cycle (full moon), but I can also imagine that it could have been our poor squid fishing skills. At least it gave me some time to improve my Vietnamese! So for anyone that would have any plans of coming to this country, 3 days in Halong Bay is definitely a must. After 2 nights on the Victory Star we were sad to leave and get back to Hanoi!

Tam biet
Charlotte and Franjo