In the regions surrounding Hanoi there are a few spots tourists love to visit. Halong Bay has to be number one among these. Halong Bay is an area of 2000 islands about 170 km west of Hanoi.

Most of the time we like to travel places on our own steam (using pedal power if possible) but pretty much the only way to tour Halong Bay is on one of the group tours that depart from and and return to Hanoi. There is so much competition between tour operators that the price has dropped to the point where doing the trip independently just doesn't make sense financially. So we shopped around, thought we found a tour that was a little better than average, and then discovered that there is no such thing as better than average at Halong Bay. Everything is exactly the same. The bus out there, the jam packed hotel lunch room, the boats, everything is exactly the same.

In spite of that we had a pretty decent time on the Bay. The area has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site and for good reason. The place is beautiful. The islands are limestone karsts (fingers like structures) that jut out of the bay. The islands are covered with trees and look quite solid until you get a little closer. Than you realized that a lot of the islands are hollow, or open up into beautifully silent hidden coves. Some of the hollow islands are beautiful caves. The biggest of them has been set up so tourists can walk through it and it truly is amazing. The stalactites are lit up with big spot lights and it really is quite a sight.

We basically spent a whole day in the Bay area. The first day we arrived at the harbor at about 1 p.m. and took a leisurely boat ride through the islands, stopping at the cave, swimming from the boat, and finally arriving at the designated sleeping spot at about 5. We had chosen the option of spending the night on the boat and so we enjoyed dinner in the main galley and then fell asleep in our rather small rooms in the boat "basement". The next day we sailed back through the islands back to the harbor at Halong City and took the bus back to Hanoi.