Click on photos to enlarge.
The sea in Ha Long Bay is misty, the earth, those small islands and spirals, appear in a fog. . . . the depth of the landscapes softens and the mountainous terrain falls one layer after the other with color and shape lightening until it blends into the sky. There are 1969 Karst stones rising from this misty bay, and we just spent three days kayaking and watching the world from their point of view.
Our hotel recommended the Galaxy cruise, its main selling feature was it was brand new in May 2011. (An old junk boat sunk this summer — so new was important to me.) For three days we took hundreds of pictures trying to capture the distinctive nature of the Karst, and the mist, and the endless layers of rock and water.
On our second day, we took an outing in a small day boat, chugging over to the cave system and paddled our kayaks through caves only to find a small, calm lake or perhaps the back side of another Karst. We paddled around for a couple of hours, enjoying each minute. The look on our faces says it all.
This sounds romantic but here is a note from reality. . . Tonight’s menu choices, back in Hanoi, were steamed snakehead fish or pickled pigs ear, however, we found the safe route: wontons.
Tomorrow off to Hue….
This is sooo cool! I just watched a travel show that showed, in some cases, you had to lay down on the boats to go into the inside of one of those whatever they’re called. It does look otherwordly.
Wow – amazing pictures, looks like something out of the movies. Thanks for sharing, I hope to do international travel someday – but it’s a while out there for me – so I’ll just keep enjoying through your pictures.