Halong Bay Adventures Part I

Over the Lunar/Chinese New Year (a BIG holiday in this part of the world) Hubs and I took a trip to Vietnam.  We spent two days and one night on a boat out in the Halong Bay, a famous area that literally has thousands of giant islands and rock formation jutting up everywhere.  It was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful.  Thanks to the addition of incredibly still, green water and some light fog the whole area gave off a very mystical, ethereal vibe.  We felt like we had stumbled into a secret filming location for a  movie that was  sort of cross between "Jurassic Park" and "The Lord of the Rings". :)

Notice how tiny the overnight cruise boats look next to the giant formations!

We got to explore the beach on this island a bit and also hiked to the building on the top for an amazing view.









The second morning on the boat we visited a floating fishing village.  These people literally live on their permanent "house" boats and have other smaller fishing boats that go out during the day.  There is a whole community here complete with a school for the lower elementary students, a Buddhist worshiping area, and a fish farm that the wives and children maintain to supplement what the men catch each day.

Some of the residents of the floating village took our group out in their small "sampon" row boats for a closer view of the area.

It was so quiet and peaceful out there it almost seemed like time stopped for a bit!