Ha Long Bay, Vietnam - day

We arrived in Ha Long Bay this morning through mist but that couldn’t hide the natural beauty of this UNESCO site. There are about “1,600 islands and islets, forming a spectacular seascape of limestone pillars. Because of their precipitous nature, most of the islands are uninhabited and unaffected by a human presence. The site's outstanding scenic beauty is complemented by its great biological interest.” - UNESCO

It’s a popular resort area, with hundreds of hotels and resorts in Ha Long. The population is about 150,000. We’ve never been here before or to any part of Vietnam. Someone we know who’d recently been here recommended we forgo the traditional “junk tour” of the bay and take a seaplane over it instead. That sounded interesting to us so we booked two seats a few days ago and grabbed a taxi to the marina terminal as soon as the ship was cleared this morning. The plane was a 12-seater and the other passengers were all from a tour group from The Netherlands.

What a rush! We’d never been on a seaplane before. And, we’re flying over one of the most incredible natural sites in the world. Indescribable.

Once we finished our flight, we took a cab to explore Ha Long market. It was huge and included sellers of everything from fish and seafood to hardware items and jewelry. Few people spoke English so we used Google Translate to communicate.

We returned to the ship for a quick late lunch and then got ourselves ready for an Around the World Special Event this evening. I’ll be posting a separate footprint about that.Read more