Karst cruising

Halong Bay and Tam Coc, both close to Hanoi, are known for their limestone karst scenery.  Visiting these areas brought back great memories of our trip to Yangshuo (see China post).

We took a 2 day cruise to Halong Bay, spending a night on a wooden 'junk boat', exploring the caves by foot, and kayaking around the sheltered lagoons.  Although the weather wasn't great, and there were a large number of other tourist boats, their bright sails brought colour to the bays:

 
Tourist Junks in Halong Bay

We enjoyed chatting to our shipmates, and polished off a bottle of French wine to help us sleep well amongst our other cabin occupants (cockroaches!).  It was a relaxing trip as the boat chugged slowly along past this wonderful scenery.

We also decided to take a rowing boat through the karsts at Tam Coc, known locally as the inland Halong Bay.  Two Vietnamese ladies rowed us serenly along,  until the hard sale for embroidered tablecloths & T-Shirts kicked in:

 
The Hard Sell

 
Punting past the karsts

 
Refreshments delivered by foot

We've really enjoyed our first week and a half here, but are now hoping for better weather as we head south.  A cyclone has been passing through Vietnam below us, bringing heavy rains throughout the country, but it looks like it might be coming to an end!