Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular travel destination in North Vietnam, home to over 1900 towering limestone islands and islets rising from deep emerald waters. Spread across 589 sq. miles in the Gulf of Tonkin. From above the islands resemble the undulating bodies of dragons “Ha Long” means “descending dragon” in Vietnamese.

According to legend, the Jade Emperor sent the Mother Dragon and her offspring to aid the Vietnamese people in a battle against foreign invaders, and they have remained here ever since in the form of jungle-clad islands.

Ha Long Bay was the filming location for some scenes in the 2017 movie Kong: Skull Island.

Today our tour guide picked us up from Hanoi and drove us by bus to Ha Long Bay for a 2 day and 2 night cruise.

The drive from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay took about 3 hours to 3.5 hours, and the bus dropped us off at Tuan Chau port.

We are now entering the Tuan Chau Pier.

Tuan Chau Pier is the largest Pier in Ha Long Bay.

The port is a busy harbor that can hold up to 2,000 sea vessels at one time.

Interestingly, Tuan Chau is actually an artificial harbor constructed in the Western style, with a well-built infrastructure including offices for police and customs and many tour guide companies.

This is our boat.

All the rooms are on the lower level of the boat.

The upper deck.

View of Ha Long Bay as the boat took off from the pier.

With almost 2,000 large and small islands spread across a total natural area of about 1,500 square kilometers, Ha Long Bay boasts incredibly stunning scenery.

Panoramic view.

We are on the upper deck of our boat.

Upper deck

This is a look back at Tuan Chau Pier way in the back.

Ha Long Bay, a natural wonder of the world, with incredibly alluring beauty with an amazing natural scene of thousands of limestone islands rising on the sea surface.