One of the things we knew we had to do in Northern Vietnam was see Ha Long Bay. We bought a tour from the same company we used for Sa Pa, which included transportion from Hanoi (4 hours in a minibus) and a cruise lasting about 24 hours on a restored Chinese Junk boat through Ha Long Bay. Our cruise actually continued onto the less touristy and less crowded Ban Tu Bay, where we docked for the night before heading back. It is really hard to describe how amazing it was to glide through the emerald green waters of these bays through the 2,000 limestone karsts and islands rising out of them. It was a pretty surreal experience for us and well worth the cost.
The karsts in the bay have been formed by the elements for over 500 million years, but the name “ha long” means “descending dragon” and legend has it that the bays were formed when Vietnam was a nascent country and the gods sent dragons to protect it. The dragons are said to have spit out jewels and jade along the coast, which made the karsts and islets that dot the harbor and stopped many ships from attacking. Over 1,500 people live throughout the bay in fishing villages, and we got to visit one out in Bai Tu Long Bay on our second day. It has to be a hard life out there on the water, especially during storms. We learned that teachers come in from the mainland to teach in the small school, and if there are medical emergencies, speedboats can get to them from the mainland in about a 1/2 hour to take patients to a hospital.





We stopped at an islet with a beach. John was one of the few people who braved the cold water and took a swim.