Day 4 - June 7 - Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is a seascape filled with towering limestone rock formations. We left the Sofitel early in the morning and boarded the Bien Ngoc Junk to begin our tour of the bay and eventually stay on board overnight. Our first stop was the Dong Thien Cung caves. There were quite a few steep steps up and down to get into the caves. According to Quang, the caves were opened to the public in 1995. After that we went to the Hang Sun Sot caves which had even more steep steps. The limestone formations were beautiful.

We cruised around the bay for a while and then stopped for kayaking and swimming. My mom was scared to go kayaking, so I had Clint take her out while my dad and brother kayaked. According to Clint, she did a great job. I think he liked kayaking with her better than me! When Clint and I kayaked, we went into caves in the formations. I was a little concerned that some animal would jump out at us and I would not be able to get out of the kayak fast enough. It was a little eery, but there were only small insects that stayed on the walls and didn't bother me as long as I didn't bother them! After kayaking, Clint, my brother, and I enjoyed a nice swim in the bay AFTER we were dared to leap off the second story of the boat. It felt a lot higher than the video makes it out to be!


We enjoyed a deliciously prepared seafood dinner. We were all so tired from our day of hiking into the caves that we were yawning constantly through our meal. We went to bed early in hopes of waking up to watch the sun rise over the bay. However, the morning was foggy, so the sun was hidden behind the clouds.