A bit more about Vietnam

It's about time I posted again about my recent-ish short holiday in Vietnam.

So, let's talk Ha Long Bay.

If you're going to be in Hanoi for a week, you may as well do the well worn tourist trek a few hours down the road to Ha Long Bay, because, well, it is spectacular, as hundreds and hundreds of amateur Youtube travelogue content will show.  Of course, you don't go expecting any kind of intimate experience, far from the maddening crowds.  I mean, I don't think this was anywhere near peak season, but it was still pretty busy.   

So, let's roll with a few of my own pics, because I can:

That's one of the views from the lookout on Ti Top Island, named after the cosmonaut Titov who visited in the early 60's.   Here he is, in one of Vietnam's bits of Soviet  leftovers:

The view across the hundreds of islands as the sun goes down kept making me think that it was like a real life watercolour painting, with their various swathes of grey, depending on distance:

The two big caves in the area, that virtually every overnight cruise boat will go to (at least if you are going on the ones that do the south end of the bay - I think there are two hubs from which you can do the area).   Both caves are pretty impressive:

 And interestingly, this cave is entered on the side of a steep island hill - makes you wonder how many other islands are hollowed out somewhat.  

 

Then there's the sea level cave you go through to see the hidden bay:

I think I posted this before, but it's a good pic:

Cross looking monkeys feature in one corner, waiting to be fed bananas:

So, the most popular thing to do is a one (or two) night cruise on one of the scores of tourists boats which head out every day.  I don't know who came up with the formula [namely, apart from the shore excursions, a "happy hour" in the early evening, a "cooking demonstration" which is just making rice paper spring rolls, tai chi on the upper deck in the morning, for the few inclined], but it seems mandated by law almost that all boats must offer the same set.   Maybe some are more into the karaoke at night than others.   Not sure.

We actually got a last minute change from the boat we had chosen to an alternative one which we hadn't even seen on line (apparently due to the first boat undergoing some unexpected maintenance), but I get the impression that this might not be all that uncommon.   It seemed to be pretty much an equivalent standard anyway, and it's not as if any of the activities were any different, so it was fine.   There are single day trips, but you then miss out on the chance to see the sunrise and start compulsively taking more photos:

Oh, that one shows Ti Top Island, with the lookout at the very top, from where a few photos above were taken.

Anyway, well worth doing, and I would in fact quite like to do another trip leaving from the other main hub.  It is that impressive...