Halong Bay

During old times legend says that the descending dragon and her children came to help the people who were being attacked from the north. The dragon and her children incinerated the enemy with fire and huge emeralds became a barrier. The emeralds turned into islands and the dragon and her children turned into human form and stayed to help the people. Halong means descending dragon. 

With Halong Bay's beautiful scenery this has made the area more and more an attraction for tourists. The area has its own tropical ecosystem and reef ecosystem. From a height you can see more islands than is possible to count. Amongst these islands of limestone are caves that have formed over 500 million years of change. 

Fishermen live on their boats or on floating villages. 

Our boat, La Vela

Fuelling up and ready to go. 

Vendors selling their wares to tourists. 

A pearl farm

A kayak around the Bay and a closer look at the pearl farm. 

Anchoring up for the evening with a few neighbours. 

A demonstration on making Vietnamese spring rolls, then we got to make some ourselves. 

Vietnamese tea ceremony 

Sung Sot Cave, also known as Surprising Cave, is one of the largest cave systems in the Bay. It is full of 'surprising' rock formations. We climbed a steep but shady path before entering the expansive grotto systems. With clever lighting various rock formations are highlighted. 

SIGHTS ON THE ROAD TRIP TO HALONG BAY AND BACK

Rice fields and more rice fields. 

In the countryside when people pass away they are buried in the rice fields. 3 years later the body is dug up and the bones are placed in a ceramic urn and reburied with a small shrine is placed on top. 

Security guards and a monk on his mobile phone. 

 

Our rest stop was at a place that trained and supported people with disabilities. 

Stone carvers 

Embroidering with white thread ever so fine that when it's completed it looks like a photograph. 

Creating pictures and decoration on bowls and trays using broken duck egg shells. 

We had an interesting stop at a pearl farm where a guide showed us the process of producing cultured pearls. 

Black, gold and white pearls are grown in the Bay. 

A fake drop of pearl shell to simulate a grain of sand is implanted into the oyster. 

2-5 years later a pearl is extracted from the oyster.