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Ha Long Bay

Friday, April 26, 2024

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Ha Long Bay

I thought this looked a bit like a puffin.

Ha Long Bay
Boats everywhere
Ha Long Bay

Stalactites in Sung Sot Cave. This cave was huge with three different chambers.

Ha Long Bay

The largest of the chambers.

Ha Long Bay

This beach was accessed through a different cave.

Ha Long Bay

The ever present trash that pollutes the entire area.

Ha Long Bay
Ha Long Bay
Ha Long Bay

I kayaked through this cave into a lagoon surrounded by mountains on the other side.

Ha Long Bay
Monkeys!
Ha Long Bay

They were really agile, jumping from tree to tree and scurrying along the cliffs.

We've just finished at two night cruise in Ha Long Bay. The cruise itself was nice but I have mixed feelings about Ha Long Bay itself. 

It's extremely popular due to the geography. It's an archipelago of more than a thousand islands that rise dramatically from the sea. Unfortunately tourism is out of control and has kind of ruined the place. Its a huge area but for some reason basically every cruise seems to park in the same area for the night, and shuttle passengers through the same couple of attractions. What should be a peaceful visit to a natural area ends up being crowded and noisy. 

The other big problem, one that seems to be an issue everywhere in Vietnam, is pollution and litter. I think you'd struggle to find a square meter of the sea surface that doesn't have plastic or polystyrene floating in it. The beaches are full of it too, and there are plenty of spots where large amounts of rubbish congregate in huge drifts. 

We were treated to a big early morning thunderstorm yesterday which was nice. It was the first rain we've seen since arriving in Asia more than seven weeks ago!