Halong Bay

Halong Bay is geology gone wild, with hundreds of limestone pinnacles protruding from the waters - 3000 and more islands rise from the emerald waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. Ha long means "where the dragon descends into the sea". Legend says that the islands of Halong Bay were created by a great dragon that lived in the mountains. As it ran towards the coast, its flailing tail gouged out valleys, as it plunged into the sea, the areas dug up by its tail became filled with water, leaving only pockets of high land visible. Nice story!
I booked the 3 day tour to visit this natural spot, staying on a junk boat with a group of 14 people. The scenery is definatelly beautiful, the spot however touristy loosing its special glamour. Thus, refused some of the standard scedule visiting some cave and went for a swim in the bay off the boat instead. Second day, our group docked Cat Ba Island, which is mostly a national park. Visited the Hospital Cave, a cave secretly used as a hospital during the war in Vietnam with rooms and tunnels spreading over three floors. Our nightstay on Monkey Island was some set up tourist beach resort at a private beach. Well, not the greatest tour ever, but I met some nice people, enjoyed a great scenery and good conversations and guitar music at the beach fire.