Ha Long Bay Revisited

VAS Teacher's Away Day 2013.

A trip to the magnificent, mist-enshrouded limestone islets and karst cliffs of Ha Long Bay. A UNESCO World Heritage Site and the (quickly fading) jewel in Vietnam's burgeoning tourist industry.

Florescent caves (thanks to some creative lighting rigs).

Tourists posing for pictures!

Geological wonders!

The silent stone sentinels stand guard over the austere, knife-gray seas. Ostensibly waiting for the days when the tour-boats cease and peace is restored.

Ha Long Bay

After a harrowing four-hour bus drive from Hanoi, Mom and I arrived at Ha Long Bay for a day of adventure.  We boarded the Ha Long 08 and almost immediately tucked into a massive seafood lunch spread and took in the otherworldly surrounding.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the region is known for its stunning karst limestone cliffs, cave systems, and serene waters.

Thousands of years of erosion has left the cliffs sharp and unforgiving - a dream for intrepid rock scramblers.

Exploring caves (amateur spelunking). The colors are from fluorescent lights and do not occur naturally in the caves.

Late afternoon and the sun is waning.

There are over 2,000 islands dramatically jutting out from Ha Long Bay.

After a few hours of cruising, it was time to watch the sun fall into the horizon and head back to Hanoi to prepare for our next big adventure: Cambodia.