Ha Long Bay 🐉

We took a day trip to Ha Long Bay! It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site, with many large limestone rock formations towering over you throughout a huge bay in the Gulf of Tonkin, (part of the larger South China Sea). The word “Ha Long” translates to “descending dragon”, and comes from a legend about a mother dragon and her children who descended from the heavens and helped fight off invaders and defend the Vietnamese. 

We took a 2 hour bus ride and then boarded a boat to sail between all the islands. The views were incredible and went for miles. 

This little miss has a small window for picture-taking. Her dad on the other hand, still tries his best to get a photo with her 😂 

Our first stop was at a small beach on Ti Top Island. The water was so clear and warm. 

The 2nd (and best!) stop was to kayak through Luon Cave and then coming out into an enclosed bay. We saw lots of cute monkeys there as well. 

The third stop was to hike into a massive cave. Sun Sot Cave has many steps up the side of the mountain, then a small entry way just big enough to squeeze through, and finally inside 3 massive chambers with stalactites and stalagmites. It was amazing to see, but so many people 😅

We cruised back to the mainland with a perfect view of the sunset. It was an amazing day and I can see why it’s a protected area - the views are stunning! Pictures can’t capture it. 

It must be noted that a huge part of our day was spent singing 🎶“Ha Long, Ha Looooonnnng will I slide? Seperate my siiiiiide”🎶 to the tune of the Red Hot Chili Peppers song. Ever since Jared and I stumbled across a RHCP cover band in Thailand, we can’t stop singing their songs 😂  Hayley didn’t say it out loud, but I know she loved it too.