The Dragon's Back

Jules and I just spent the past 3 days in a landscape so amazing that our faces our now permanently wide-eyed and the only word left in our vocabulary is "wow". Imaginatively termed the "Dragon's Back", Ha Long Bay is a collection of hundreds of forest covered limestone towers that dot the emerald green Pacific Ocean.







We signed up for a tour of Ha Long Bay through our hostel, and it was the sweetest deal ever. For $90 we got 3 days, 2 nights accommodation including meals. The first day was spent aboard a wooden pirate ship. We slowly weaved our way through the islands taking in the sights.





Most of the day was spent relaxing, drinking Vietnamese beers (the consensus choice was that Tiger was the best, although I don't know if that is truly a local beer) and making friends with the other passengers on board. We met people traveling from Norway, Austria and even San Francisco.















Note: Jules is going to do a separate post on the sea kayaking tour that we took this first day. This definitely was one of the highlights of my trip.



In the evening all the ships anchor in a cove protected from the rough waves of the sea. It was quite a sight seeing these great wooden vessels circle around each other throughout the night.















While anchored we would have time to go swimming. The best way down is jumping right from the top of the boat and into the water.
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