Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Halong Bay


Junk Tour Boat
Originally uploaded by yellojkt.
When we knew we were going to Vietnam, the one "must-see" destination was Halong Bay. This area is spotted with unique natural limestone formations that rise out of the water and are considered a world cultural heritage site by UNESCO.

Halong Bay is on the northeast coast of Vietnam and is about a three hour ride from Hanoi.

Once at the beach town of Bai Chay there is a large marina filled with tour boats built to resemble old "junks". The style of sail is very picturesque, but most of the boats were under power because of the complete lack of wind that day.

Our private cruise lasted about three hours on a boat large enough to fit about 30 people. The cruise included a five-course meal of local seafood cooked on the boat. The prawns alone were about the size of small lobsters.

Each little cove we sailed into was more gorgeous than the last. We took tons of pictures and video footage. I created a Flickr slideshow of the islands to showcase some of various formations we saw.

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