Halong Bay in the North East of Vietnam. A bewitching and mysterious landscape with over 20.000 mountain tops rising out of the water. Barely drown mountains, with strange and astonishing shapes, caused by 'the descent of the dragon' according to the legend.

We went for a boat trip with a wooden junk for 2 days to discover the bay. The weather was excellent for the time of the year (it can be quite foggy and cold): a bright sun accompanied us for the whole journey. The company was mixed: A very nice Canadian couple close to retirement (he was working for SNC Lavalin in Qatar, piping - again, why can't I meet people with a normal profession), a very friendly German couple who actually did visit the Cook Islands and Rarotonga, our last stop, a family from Singapore and a German guy who lives and works in HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City) for the Hyatt Hotel Group. He booked this boat trip to escape after 6 months eternal noise in HCMC and get some peace and quit. HCMC is far more busy than Hanoi, we were warned by now!

Everywhere you can see fishermen who live from and on the sea. Some of them earned enough to build some kind of shelter on a bigger raft. The wifes try to sell some souvenirs and food to the tourist on the junks.

We visited Sung Sot , the cave of the surprise, and Hang Luon, the cave of the tunnel. The latter is not a cave, it is a enclosed green sea lake surrounded by mountains, only accessible by a little boat through a tunnel. Steven joined the group climbing a mountain to enjoy the superb views. Little August however decided that he had enough physical exercise for the day climbing in the caves, and stayed (with mama) on the boat. He took his job as the boat's second helmsman very seriously, and hardly left his position next to the first helmsman.

After Hanoi's jungle we absolutely enjoyed the rest and quiet on the boat. After a last night in Hanoi, we are heading for the city of Hue about 650 km more to the South, the city of the Nguyen emperors.