Vietnam Trip Day 7 & 8 : Ha Long Bay

Amazing Ha Long Bay

On the way to Sung Sot Cave. One of the numerous junks that ply the nearly 2 million tourists that visit this area each year.

Floating fishing village. The houses are “floating” because of the plastic barrels beneath them. Read somewhere that these villages have their own schools as well. There are some nice photos on another blog

Sung Sot Cave

Stalactites and stalagmites.

The dimples on the roof are actually created by sea water lashing against it over millions of years. The cave entrance is some 20-25 metres above sea level, so my first impression was that the sea level must have been much higher several million years ago, but a search on Wikipedia revealed that the entire area was lifted up sometime between 420 to 340 million years B.C.

View From Exit Of Sung Sot Cave

Bum boat selling drinks, at the exit of Sung Sot Cave.

Smaller boats waiting to ferry tourists back to their parent junks. Nex stop Ti Top (Titov) Island.

Dao Ti Top (a.k.a. Titov Island)

Dao Ti Top (more commonly referred to as Titov Island) was named in honour of former Soviet astronaut Ghermann Titov who visited the island in 1962 along with (then President) Ho Chi Minh.

Heading towards Titov Island.

View from stairs up to top of Ti Top (Titov) Hill.

View from higher up the stairs.

View from even higher up the stairs.

View from top of Ti Top (Titov) Hill

With the rain approaching towards the end of our 30 minute stopover on the island, we had to make a hasty retreat down the 400+ stairs to the beach and on to our junk.

Parting shot of Titov Island. It didn’t rain as heavily as it looked.

Barge

Dropping Anchor For The Night
Our junk dropped anchor in an area with atleast 30 other junks nearby.

Our junk’s “guide” jumping off the junk.

Lady in bum boat selling drinks.

Ha Long Bay at dusk

Luon Grotto

Bum boat taking us to Luon Grotto

Entrance to Luon Grotto. Inside is an enclosed lagoon.

Vietnamese lady captain of our bum boat, inside Luon Grotto

Back to our junk from lagoon inside Luon Grotto

Bum boats, outside Luon Grotto

Bum boat captain, outside Luon Grotto

Bum boats and tourist boats, outside Luon Grotto