25 Oct - Ha Long Bay - UNESCO World Heritage Site

The main attraction at Ha Long Bay, not just for us on our bikes, is the UNESCO World Heritage site with its karsks. There are hundreds of modern-day junks in the harbour here, most appearing to cater to day cruises although there are also overnight possibilities as well as continuing the sail to Hanoi. Our local support in Vietnam, and for the rest of the ride to Singapore, is provided by Grasshopper Adventures, a Bangkok-based travel company - they arranged a day cruise which about thirty of us went on meaning that we had the boat to ourselves. We sailed around the karsks, visited a cave, had a swim on a beach, and were served a very nice meal in the early afternoon. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.


The myth is that the karsks were formed by dragons
to keep out invading warships. So it is that every junk
has a dragon on the prow