Pirates of the Caribbean - Halong Bay

The about 4 hour trip from Hanoi over to Halong Bay was easy to manage. We stopped along the way to try some unique, little pineapples, stale Halong Beer and other delicatessens, we would have not found otherwise. Halong Bay City itself used to be a little fisher town but with tourism coming in years ago, its now a booming town not shy of high-rises and commercial buildings. A bit disappointed we embarked on our wooden junk into the bay and soon enough the disappointment turned into a slap in the face by stunning nature.

We visit caves and an over the water fisher village, which is completely dependent on what they have. There is no cell phone reception and no electricity, but they still enjoying living like this. I guess sometimes its nice not to have TV and other media. They are selling the fish to the market in Halong City and from the money they make they buy improvements for their boats and houses.

The entire scenery reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean. Wooden sailing boats, the little islands and the warm weather - all good ingredients. Just Jonny Depp was missing…

Unfortunately it rained the entire night and the anticipated morning was overcast. We skipped the trip up to Tip Mountain and relaxed a bit more in the cabin. Food and service were outstanding and I would highly recommend visiting Halong Bay when you are in this part of the world.

We all slept on the way back to Hanoi Airport. I am not feeling well - tomorrow we will just stay in and I need to get over my stomach ache.