Reached the harbour where we were greeted by our Vietnamese guide, a very cheerful man who led us to our junk boat. The harbour was literally packed with junk boats of different shapes and sizes. What better way to experience Halong Bay than sail in its waters in one of these boats. No this is Asia, so don't start thinking of yachts...
Our very own junk boat!
And off we sail!
The interior of the junk boat where we had our meals
Kinda disagree on the surcharge if we bring our own water outside. Heard there's even a fine for it if kena caught. Hence the sneaking back to my room to chug down my own bottled water
Lunch is served! The spring rolls are fantastic and the sauce is really something different. Rather enjoyed this simple home-cooked er...boat-cooked meal
First stop to the Dau Go Caves
The interior of the caves were illuminated with various coloured lightings. Stalactites and stalagmites abound, with various formations shaped in different ways possible, till the people have given them names such as Sleeping Dragon, Lion's Mane, Jellyfish, Lovers etc etc.
Forgot what they called this, but the sight of sunlight rays streaming through a huge open crevice was pretty awesome
Our Vietnamese guide had some cheeky idea for this. He called it "Mother's breast". We would like to think of it as resembling a close friend's NIPS!!!!! To the chem eng ppl reading this, think you all would know who. :p
View as we exited the coloured cave
OMG...it's a pretty long hike around the caves
And our journey continues...in search of the fishing village
This guy was fluent in Chinese and was showing us his fishy, erm fish collection
What are the guys looking at?
Apparently everyone was fascinated with disturbing the octopuses that started squirting black ink. They then happily fed live prawns to the huge catfish..buncha sadists!! :p
Boats packed with fruits
Headed on for the hidden cave in a smaller boat. Our guide told us that a scene from the James Bond movie "Tomorrow Never Dies" was filmed at this secret location. While I couldn't recall anything from that movie, I was starting to imagine Bond ducking through the cave with speedboats chasing him and probably getting smashed up in the process
A primary school for the children who live here
The dragon leads the way forward....on to our next location for the night...
The ever changing landscape as we sail further and view the limestone formations as mountains over the horizon
Used a pair of sunglasses to take this shot
A place to drop anchor for the night
And the chance to swim in the waters of Halong Bay. Our guide thought we could swim without life-vests, but being cautious, we grabbed the life-vests from the ship. And honestly they weren't really too reliable as mine came off the moment I dived in!
Sunset over Halong Bay. Gorgeous!
And a sumptuous dinner to end the night
Did you ever think we would let the octopuses go? We actually bought one from the fishing village and had it cooked. Mmmmm this is the result. Goes well with the spring roll sauce!
And off we sail!
The interior of the junk boat where we had our meals
Kinda disagree on the surcharge if we bring our own water outside. Heard there's even a fine for it if kena caught. Hence the sneaking back to my room to chug down my own bottled water
Lunch is served! The spring rolls are fantastic and the sauce is really something different. Rather enjoyed this simple home-cooked er...boat-cooked meal
First stop to the Dau Go Caves
The interior of the caves were illuminated with various coloured lightings. Stalactites and stalagmites abound, with various formations shaped in different ways possible, till the people have given them names such as Sleeping Dragon, Lion's Mane, Jellyfish, Lovers etc etc.
Forgot what they called this, but the sight of sunlight rays streaming through a huge open crevice was pretty awesome
Our Vietnamese guide had some cheeky idea for this. He called it "Mother's breast". We would like to think of it as resembling a close friend's NIPS!!!!! To the chem eng ppl reading this, think you all would know who. :p
View as we exited the coloured cave
OMG...it's a pretty long hike around the caves
And our journey continues...in search of the fishing village
This guy was fluent in Chinese and was showing us his fishy, erm fish collection
What are the guys looking at?
Apparently everyone was fascinated with disturbing the octopuses that started squirting black ink. They then happily fed live prawns to the huge catfish..buncha sadists!! :p
Boats packed with fruits
Headed on for the hidden cave in a smaller boat. Our guide told us that a scene from the James Bond movie "Tomorrow Never Dies" was filmed at this secret location. While I couldn't recall anything from that movie, I was starting to imagine Bond ducking through the cave with speedboats chasing him and probably getting smashed up in the process
A primary school for the children who live here
The dragon leads the way forward....on to our next location for the night...
The ever changing landscape as we sail further and view the limestone formations as mountains over the horizon
Used a pair of sunglasses to take this shot
A place to drop anchor for the night
And the chance to swim in the waters of Halong Bay. Our guide thought we could swim without life-vests, but being cautious, we grabbed the life-vests from the ship. And honestly they weren't really too reliable as mine came off the moment I dived in!
Sunset over Halong Bay. Gorgeous!
And a sumptuous dinner to end the night
Did you ever think we would let the octopuses go? We actually bought one from the fishing village and had it cooked. Mmmmm this is the result. Goes well with the spring roll sauce!
Spent the night chilling up on the deck of the boat as I watched the stars. While it ain't exactly clear cos it was pretty cloudy, I got a kick out of watching the stars shimmer and occasionally hide behind the clouds and then reappearing again. Kinda like the moment of quietness in the dark in the midst of the vast Halong Bay. Ended up chilling with our Vietnamese guide who also couldn't resist staring into the stars. Was kinda amused that he kept mentioning that we had lots of beautiful girls along on the trip though I kept digressing by mentioning that Vietnamese girls were pretty hot too. He disagreed. Anw, I retired early so that I could catch the sunrise. Unfortunately, was kinda let down by the sunrise cos it was rather cloudy and it was blocked by the limestone formations, but anw I tried to take some morning shots.
The moon beckons...
Early morning misty shots
Kayaking in the morning
Interestingly, caverns and secret caves are revealed during low tides, and we set ashore on one of these caverns in the limestone formations
This guy helped us to take a photo and was here for some DSLR action on his own by climbing all the way to the top
Early morning misty shots
Kayaking in the morning
Interestingly, caverns and secret caves are revealed during low tides, and we set ashore on one of these caverns in the limestone formations
This guy helped us to take a photo and was here for some DSLR action on his own by climbing all the way to the top
And this is it. We bade our farewells to the magnificent Halong Bay as our boat sailed back to Halong City. The past 2 days were a definite highlight of the trip.
Lunch back at a restaurant in Halong City. No...not this whole bottle of snake wine...
Well it's actually an assortment of lizards, birds, cobras.........
Ride back to Hanoi where we stopped over at souvenir shops. The Vietnamese displaying their hand-made craft
Very unique chess pieces..pity they don't come with the chess board
Dinner in Hanoi at one of the road-side stalls
Snail pho. Looks like soft chewy mushrooms. Have a very strong acquired taste to it. Even the soup has that same taste. Not exactly heavenly, but I was relishing the thought of eating the snail....mmmmMMM!! :)
Our Vietnamese friend, Thao, took us to this cafe with a rooftop terrace where we had the chance to taste Vietnamese coffee. Yeah the name of the cafe sounds pretty messed up. :p
The coffee's to the left, not the plant! It just seemed like an appropriate deco to it. Anw the bitter taste of the coffee was really strong, so I can't really comment much on it cos I don't like drinking coffee in the first place. Mentally takes a note to stockpile Trung coffee at the request of my coffee-loving aunt...
Ended the night with drinks from another cafe. Couldn't resist the urge to drink bubble tea!
Well it's actually an assortment of lizards, birds, cobras.........
Ride back to Hanoi where we stopped over at souvenir shops. The Vietnamese displaying their hand-made craft
Very unique chess pieces..pity they don't come with the chess board
Dinner in Hanoi at one of the road-side stalls
Snail pho. Looks like soft chewy mushrooms. Have a very strong acquired taste to it. Even the soup has that same taste. Not exactly heavenly, but I was relishing the thought of eating the snail....mmmmMMM!! :)
Our Vietnamese friend, Thao, took us to this cafe with a rooftop terrace where we had the chance to taste Vietnamese coffee. Yeah the name of the cafe sounds pretty messed up. :p
The coffee's to the left, not the plant! It just seemed like an appropriate deco to it. Anw the bitter taste of the coffee was really strong, so I can't really comment much on it cos I don't like drinking coffee in the first place. Mentally takes a note to stockpile Trung coffee at the request of my coffee-loving aunt...
Ended the night with drinks from another cafe. Couldn't resist the urge to drink bubble tea!
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