Fall in Love with Indochina: Ha Long Bay, Vietnam 2015

We spent our fifth anniversary on an overnight cruise, overlooking the incredible sight called Ha Long Bay. A UNESCO World Heritage site, Ha Long Bay boasts of emerald waters and is formed out of 1,600 limestone islets. The name "Ha Long" translates to 'where the dragon descends into the sea'. 

Picturesque, breathtaking, ethereal... Ha Long Bay is a place where you will certainly run out of colourful vocabulary to describe it with. Ha Long Bay is about 4 hours drive from Hanoi, and you'd need to take a small boat to get to the cruise boat. I'd definitely recommend an overnight stay as a 1-day cruise is way too rushed (and you will have to tolerate a total of 8 hours drive in one single day, who'd want that!).

Enough with text! Here on, the photos will do the talking. 

Set in a very mystical landscape, photographs taken at an hour interval get a different-coloured sky each time, I would say this is a definite must-go place for photographers. It may be a little overrated, but not a part of me regretted the effort to get to Ha Long Bay at any point.

Shortly after we arrived, we changed to our swimwear and went kayaking to explore areas that are inaccessible by boats (tunnels were the length of 1 kayak boat!) Unfortunately, we were advised not to take any mobile phones or cameras along (as the risk of it falling into the water while you are kayaking is pretty high).

So... no photos of the amazing landscape and the lagoon we kayaked into. I really couldn't risk losing my prior photos of Hanoi... A lady from our cruise group did bring her mobile phone along - and I'm happy to see that her phone survived the kayak trip as well as the go-wild-and-go-swimming time in the lagoon.

One part that was interesting (well, to me anyway) was watching the saltwater dry off my skin and leave its salty powdery residue all over. People who know me will probably realise that I absolutely avoid the sea and its associated activities - They make beautiful photographs (the only reason I may step in) but I'd never step into them because of (1) medical reasons (2) general preference not to.

I mean, I do wanna try paragliding someday. But that's a story for another day.

A view of the sky at 4.30pm.

Hang Sung Sot

Also known as the "Cave of Surprises" in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam.

Can you believe that every formation in this cave is completely natural? It truly is a cave of surprises!

One random clump of rocks out of nowhere that shines like Edward Cullen in sunlight - I'm not kidding! Got this picture as a fellow cruise groupie helped me by shining her iPhone torch on this rock.

The image of a waterfall.

We made it up! Here's the view at the highest part of the cave.

Crisp air, a feeling of lightness, and breathtaking sights, Ha Long Bay was amazing.

Most of all, most of all, the person I shared this brand new experience with was you.

Click HERE to view the B/W photo collection of my time in Hanoi, Vietnam, or HERE to read my hotel review of the amazing Hanoi Charm Hotel!