SailorJill and I Sail on the Orient Express a.k.a. Millenium's Immersion Cruise

Moving deeper into the cave. This place was huge!

You can get some perspective of how large this cave was by comparing it to the people at the bottom of the photo.

They did a good job of lighting the cave - very dramatic.

We are now making our way down to the "Great Hall."

We were told this was an emergency exit if anything happened. We hadn't even thought about an "emergency" up to this point, so now we kept looking for other emergency exits as we worked our way down the path.

They did a great job with the lighting in the cave - lots of oranges, greens, yellows, and blues.

The Great Hall. We visited a cave ( I forget where) many years ago where, because of the acoustics, an orchestra would play several times a year. This Great Hall was almost as big as that one and could have easily held an orchestra and audience.

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Great photos of the cave...that place looks awesome.

Some final shots of the cave as we head for the exit.

The climb back up.

The exit!

Sunlight! We exit the cave somewhat higher up the mountain. Our first sight is the tour boats lined up like so many nursing pups. The scaffolding on the right side of the photo did not inspire a lot of confidence and we headed down rather quickly.

We had no idea what the gathering of boats in the background represented - a party? If so, our boat was not invited and we sailed right by it.

We are back on the water and sail the bay marveling at the sights.

We pass a small fishing village.

In every direction we were confronted with amazing islet formations.

These formations look like a picket fence.

This is the Chinese Taishan cruise ship - the only other cruise ship in the harbor while we were there. This ship has an interesting history - of which you may recall. Back in 2005 it was sailing for (I think, Ibero Cruises) and was called the Grand Voyager. In February of that year it was sailing in the Mediterranean and was hit by a freak wave that was estimated to be somewhere between 40 and 50 feet tall. The wave smashed windows and disabled the engines - leaving the ship listing and rolling helplessly adrift as rescue helicopters rushed to the scene. After a brief stint with Costa, the ship was sold in 2014 to the Bohai Ferry Company and renamed the Chinese Taishan. Anyway, this is the Chinese Taishan - formerly known as the Grand Voyager.

 

I remember that cruise. I think there was a video on Utube with tables sliding across the dining room and broken glass everywhere. That had to be a frightful experience.

I think I remember the video, but the biggest video was one where a wave that hit a RCL (I think) ship out in the Atlantic. In either case, both ships suffered damage, but I think there was a death on the RCL ship - just can't recall the details.

Many of the islets in Ha Long Bay have been named - either in honor of someone or because of their profile. Our guide tells us that we are coming up on one of the more famous ones in the bay.

This is Dinh Huong - The Incense Burner islet. It is comprised of one very large stone and sits on four legs - which can only be seen when the tide is low.

The islet is in shaped like a traditional incense burner and is regarded as a holy symbol in honor of national heros who died in the service of their country.

A very large stone indeed!

After visiting the Incense burner, we are told that we will be seeing another very famous islet in the Bay. Along the way we see beautiful scene after beautiful scene. It is hard to describe the feeling one gets sailing along the quiet waters of the Bay and marveling at all the works of nature. This is one of the items on my bucket list that did not disappoint.

We are entering a narrow channel between the islets and traffic is getting a little heavy.

Along the way we occasionally get a glimpse of the Millie in the background.

Great photos of the cave...that place looks awesome.

Thanks - glad you enjoyed them. We have visited several caves in our travels and this was one of the more spectacular ones.

Jack

Great photos of the cave...that place looks awesome.

Thanks - glad you enjoyed them. We have visited several caves in our travels and this was one of the more spectacular ones.

Jack

And we will get to see it in December, Lord willing. Again, thanks for posting the review and pictures. :)

We are coming up on Trong Mai islet - probably one of the more famous islets in Ha Long Bay.

This islet has (pardon the pun) a split personality.

The English translation of Trong Mai is Kissing Cocks. However it is sometimes referred to as Fighting Cocks Islet - giving it the split personality.

The rocks are about 30 feet tall and in Vietnamese folklore the rocks (which have been "kissing" for thousands of years) represents the faithfulness of love.

Some final shots as our day on the water comes to an end and we head back to the ship.

It was impossible to see the entire bay in just half a day. We missed seeing some islets that we had hoped to see - Monster Islet, Toad Islet and the islet that is featured on one of the Vietnamese currency. But is was good to get back to the ship.

A pleasant evening on board and then an excursion tomorrow which we are really looking forward to - Hanoi.

Our ship spent the night in Ha Long Bay and we were very fortunate that our cabin was on the starboard side and we were entertained with a terrific light show. After a fantastic day touring the bay, a great dinner and a glass of wine on the balcony, it was a fitting end to a great day!

The lights on the Ferris Wheel were constantly changing and flashing different designs.

We talked about riding the wheel, but our Hanoi tour the next day was an all day 8 hour event and time would not permit it. Perhaps on our next visit.

The Ferris Wheel was not the only thing putting on a light show. This is the Bai Chay Bridge. It opened in 2006 and at that time was the world's longest central-line span of cable-stayed bridge. I have no idea what that means!:D

The bridge rises to a height of 160 feet which allows ships to pass underneath.

The bridge was constantly changing color - from blues and greens to reds and yellows.

We are off to Hanoi. A lot of the pictures were taken from a moving bus so the clarity is not going to be the best - but it gives one the flavor of the Vietnamese countryside.

This is Ha Long Park - the site of the Ferris Wheel.

The road to Hanoi! Are we there yet?:D Not quite - it is going to be a three hour bus ride.

There were a lot of modern building near Ha Long, but not so much in the villages we were going to drive through.

Almost immediately we were driving past rice paddies - the iconic garden most closely associated with Vietnam.

A toll plaza! Who would have thought that a communist country would have toll roads. In all of our travels throughout Asia, this is the first toll plaza that I can recall. I am sure there are more, but not on the road to Hanoi!

More modern government building next to the toll plaza.

Another amusement park. We noticed that there were a lot of these types of parks in Vietnam.

We are finally out of the Ha Long metro area and more rice paddies. Notice the mountains in the background. North Vietnam turned out to be very mountainous.

And we will get to see it in December, Lord willing. Again, thanks for posting the review and pictures. :)

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. In a strange twist, after waiting years to see it, it appears we will be back there next year. We are taking a land tour of Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam that will include Ha Long Bay.

I hope you write a review of your trip - it will be interesting to hear your perspective.

Jack

On the way to Hanoi, we passed several small villages. In between the villages people were out working in the rice paddies. It had to be back breaking work.

A typical small town - no underground utilities yet.

Property costs must be based on street frontage as the houses are very narrow, but very tall.

There is narrow, and then their is really narrow!

OK, last picture of narrow houses. I couldn't help myself - it was hard to imagine what the inside must look like.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. In a strange twist, after waiting years to see it, it appears we will be back there next year. Jack

I was in Viet Nam quite a few years ago. I am sure it will be a VASTLY different experience. :D

It was not unusual to see water buffalo or oxen in the yards of people living near the rice paddies.

That was because they used them to plow the field. We didn't see a single tractor while on the trip - maybe because they could not operate in the wet and muddy fields of the rice paddies?

OK, I lied...one more skinny house! They were so unusual!

Last photo of a rice paddy! (There were so many of them)!

About half way to Hanoi we pulled into a rest stop - along with must have been every other bus in Vietnam. The "rest stop" was a huge factory that sold everything from diamonds to candy. Here, workers are using artwork to create other artwork. Jill enjoyed seeing them work, but the pieces they were creating were selling for hundreds of dollars.

After a VERY long bus ride we are finally in Hanoi. Our guide announced that our first stop will be the Hanoi Hilton - the infamous prison where Senator McCain and others were interred during the war.

But here are a few photos of what downtown Hanoi looks like on our way to the prison.

A Vietnamese pickup truck?:D

This is the Trong Dong Wedding Chapel. It was called the Trong Dong Palace and our guide said that a lot of chapels use the word Palace because it connotes romance. Note the happy couple in the poster out on the street.

An upscale apartment building on a very nice tree lined street.

While most of the city through which we drove appeared to be very modern there were some vestiges of the old days.

I guess some needs are universal. A vendor selling paper products off the back of her bicycle.

I was in Viet Nam quite a few years ago. I am sure it will be a VASTLY different experience. :D

I am sure you will have a different experience. Same thing happened to us. We visited the Vietnam 7 or eight years ago and found the country quite different this time - much more westernized and tourist oriented.

Alfresco dining seemed to be the thing to do downtown.

This place looked a little more upscale.

We saw a lot of police on the streets in Hanoi. Here a lone officer was patrolling his block.