Halong Bay

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We took a two-day cruise tour around the natural wonder that is Halong Bay. It is an area made up of more than 3,000 islands and has beautiful grottoes and huge limestone cliffs. So many places in Vietnam have lovely stories attached to them and Halong Bay is no exception: legend has it that the islands were created by a dragon that lived in the mountains. As it ran towards the coast, the movements of its tail carved out valleys and those areas were filled with water, leaving only the high land visible.

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Our boat was a three-level wooden junk. It was in need of some tender loving care... but it was just fine for us. Our fellow travellers were a lovely bunch of people and we had a great time. On the first day, we cruised to one of the islands and saw the stunning cave they call 'Dragon Palace'. We also took a small boat around a couple of rock enclosures. Most of the rocks are covered in scrub and the immensity of the place really took our breath away. It was great fun sleeping in our tiny cabin and it even had a tiny shower room to match! On our second day, we went kayaking (at 6am!!!) and cruised around Halong Bay before heading back to shore.