Vietnam Day 3 - Halong Bay - SE Asia Day 29

We were up early to catch a bus to Halong Bay.  Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and features thousands of limestone islands and islets rising out of the sea.  This famous site was a tourist hot spot but the many boats on the bay somehow add to the beauty of this stunning place.  The bus ride was thankfully uneventful and we boarded the boat in time for lunch.  We were seated at a table with a wonderful Spanish couple who are following much the same route as us.  As I am writing this post almost 2 weeks late I can say that we are very happy to have met them and have met up for a few nights of fun in a couple different towns.  After lunch we enjoyed the boat ride through some of the islands before making our first stop at Surprising Cave.  This cave is quite large and despite the many boats that were docked to tour through it was still an enjoyable walk through this cavernous wonder.  Approximately an hour later and after walking through one boat to get to our tender we headed over to Tip Top Island for a hike and a bit of time at a very crowded beach.

The hike up was warm but steps and constant stops due to the amount of traffic made it feel relatively effortless.  We snapped a few photos from the summit which was much too crowded and headed down to spend a few minutes on the beach to watch the sunset.  Sadly the water in Ha Long bay is quite dirty, possibly due to the number of boats but more likely due to the fact that Vietnam is one of the highest producers of plastic ocean waste.  Despite this we still enjoyed watching the sunset over the islands and soon made our way back to the boat for a shower and dinner.

The food on the boat was enjoyable and a few beers were had as we relaxed on the rooftop deck with the other passengers.