Halong Bay

After a few days in Hanoi we headed up to Halong Bay, which in Vietnamese means ' Land of the Descending Dragon'. As one legend has it during battles with China (which is quite close) the gods sent a family of dragons to the bay who spit out jewels and jade that turned into islands protecting the land. Jewels and jade are an apt metaphor. The bay is some 1,500 kilometers in the Gulf of Tonkin, and has nearly 2,000 limestone islands, many covered in thick jungle. We spent 4 days touring the area by boat and kayak. The kayaking is amazing, as you can paddle around tiny islands, past fishing villages, through narrow caves and passages to hidden lakes and lagoons. Though I am sure it will, surprisingly kayaking has yet to catch on, so much of the time we had vast areas to explore on our own.