Ha Long Bay, in the Gulf of Tonkin in northeast Vietnam, is a wonder (it is on the new seven natural wonders list). Mike and I kept asking ourselves how could these approximately 2,000 towering limestone islands and islets, topped by rainforests be formed. The Vietnamese have legends about when a great mountain dragon charged towards the coast, its flailing tail gouging out valleys and crevasses. Ha Long translates to ‘where the dragon descends into the sea’. In reality, the karsts are made of limestone and have gone through 500 million years of formation in different conditions and environments. As the sea has moved in and out carving away at the limestone, time has produce the conical peaks and towers.

Ha Long Bay is one of Vietnam’s top tourist destinations for foreigners and Vietnamese alike. There are hundreds of “junk” style boats on the bay. We took a two night, three-day cruise on the Royal Wings. As we were trying to make a reservation we found that most of the boats were fully booked. Finally, there was a cabin available on the Royal Wings… the problem was that it was the grand executive suite which was beyond our budget. It was the last unsold cabin and they wanted to fill it so they offered it at their regular cabin price! An offer to good to refuse.

Our activities included morning Tai Chi exercise on the sun deck and the opportunity try squid fishing or karaoke in the evening. We transferred to a comfortable day boat for a full day kayaking, swimming, relaxing and visiting an oyster farm. We saw a demonstration on how to create cultured pearls. The workers and their families live on boats in the bay, near the oyster farm.

I read an article a while ago about how Americans are loving our national parks to death. We have seen the same at tourist destinations everywhere we have been and Ha Long Bay is no exception. We looked forward to escaping the hustle and bustle of Hanoi’s Old Quarter but what we found was a mass of tourists being shepherded on and off shuttle boats. During the day the crowds weren’t too noticeable but in the evening dozens of boats anchored in the same bay for the night. The national park hired over one hundred people to clean up the litter on the water.