Trip - Vietnam D2 - Meet the Dragons

Good Morning Blog,

On my second day in Vietnam, I could not sleep well because I was bloated, and I hoped to unload myself before heading out.

I feel painful whenever I am bloated.

Today's itinerary includes a visit to HạLong Bay, a well-known and breathtaking landscape in Vietnam.

I guess I got travel constipation... 🫠🫠🫠

I think I will be alright.

I felt like I was over-dressed, so I went back to remove my innerwear after breakfast.

Hanoi's morning was rather cooling like Korea.

I now have a better view of the hotel's exterior. Quite nice from outside.

Take a look at the gap between the buildings, which is common in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan but not in Vietnam. It's a rare sight.

Observing the busy road in Hanoi from the bus.

I was debating whether I should publish my day 1 without finishing the text or finish everything and publish it all at once. Given my typing speed and ability to sort photos... Six-day trip could take me two to three weeks to complete, and I will have an update in January 2025... I doubt many people will read anyway... Writing is more for me. So I decided to publish posts without words for the first time and update them while travelling by bus.

In Hanoi, I noticed many soldiers in green uniforms walking around. Their red rank and uniform are distinguishable from a distance. That is quite cool. I would love to wear it if I ever got the chance.

However, the dizziness occurred while I was typing on my phone... It can be difficult for me to organise my photos because I have to edit in HTML mode.

I was trying to sleep the entire time, but my mind kept wanting to draft the post, so I tried to write briefly and rest my eyes after some HTML editing.

Write, rest, sleep, play games, write, rest, sleep, take a toilet break, and repeat...

Soon... From urban to rural zones... Farming is everywhere, just like in China.

A few moments later, mountains emerge from the ground, giving us a preview of what we will see later.

Tuan Chau International Marina

Hmm, appears spacious but empty... Was it too early for a boat ride?

I noticed a reflective sculpture of two random irregular shapes displayed in the area... What are these? My wild guess is that it should be HạLong Bay's iconic formation.

Are we taking this boat today?

From the scenery, it appeared to be a quiet harbour, and today's weather was calmer and less cold, with Mr Sun helping to warm the land nicely.

My mother wanted to be Vietnamese, but she could not embrace the culture other than for fun. Typically, the stall owner will not allow customers to take pictures of their products without purchasing them. So it is best to avoid posing with it, especially if they do not have much business, and do not aggravate their situation.

It was the lonely, deep, and emotional moment of the Le-Me shot 🤮

Credit goes to my trusty camera with tripod, which was extremely useful for family photos.

Looking at the houses on the sea.

We would be sailing on this 'sea-house' to HạLong Bay!

This 'sea-house' is a 'sea-restaurant'.

Each family has a clean table for themselves.

Windy but cooling, and not too cold.

Mountain ridges are visible from a distance.

The strong wind actually managed to knock my camera to the ground. What an intimidating force.

I enjoy the different colour layers of mountain ridges.

Like a descending (Ha) dragon (Long), relaxing and protecting Vietnam in the sea.

You can relax out in the open air above the boat's deck.

I was able to enjoy the cool breeze while also tanning.

Due to the bright lighting, I was unable to see Halong Bay and thus missed the desired mountain ridges.

I wanted to take a nice picture of Halong Bay but could not capture the colour of the mountains; I am assuming it is because I do not have the right filter or skill.

I am not sure what the ideal shot is either.

(Credit Guide) Come on, mother. You don't want to miss out on this.

Check out this awesome cloudless weather!

I will not say much; just take some time to admire the majestic Halong Bay, which is simply breathtaking.

I attempted a close-up and enjoyed the sight of a valley that was well protected by two sides.

It seemed like I took a while to study how these mountains were formed.

Halong Bay was formed by tectonic movement over 500 million years ago, so you can see its rock formation (which is actually limestone) is slanted.

Not by volcanic activity combined with erosion to create what you see today.

As you can see, a meh nerd is attempting to take a photo of the Halong mountain towers, but he should move aside.

Yes, show more of the Halong Bay mountains. I wondered how the plants ended up on the mountain.

We are approaching a harbour shortly..

Daugo Harbor is surrounded by many mountains.

Family group photos with my trusty camera 📸

And one for myself. 🤮

The guide told us to stop here to see the caves that took millions of years to form.

Dộng Thiên Cung - If you Google this cave, the maps show a different location, so I am not sure if there is a mistake. On Google maps, it was named Dau Go Cave - Hang Đầu Gỗ (maps)

Lets have a wefie moment before we entered.

(Credit Guide) This was our first tour group photograph. I have to kneel in front of the camera (I always do this for group photos to add variety; otherwise, everyone is too still if they just stand).

It is limestone, so it was heavily eroded by rain.

Time to enter the cave

When I entered the cave, the temperature seemed to drop, as did the wide open space.

This pillar formed over millions of years as a slow and consistent flow of minerals accumulated between the top and bottom.

Because of the lighting and shape, the formations were given names such as lion heads, dragons, and skeletons. Even if it is silly to relate to the appearance of a creature, as long as they have fun and protect what they can relate to, everything should be fine.

I tried to take a group photo inside, but it was too dark, despite the cave being illuminated, and it was casting shadows on us.

A shot of the top of us; there is no danger above us.

Ny aunties and mother started associating these pillars with foods like lion's mane and oyster mushrooms.

Trying out different poses, but most of the ladies said they did not want to show their double chins because my camera was set up at the bottom, so they suggested making a cute face and covering our chins with our palms, which seems to be working.

For me, there is no point in hiding my double chin; I do not have a strong jawline like the god, and I have a flat stupid face that does not add much, so I just pose with the places for myself.

An opening in the cave, if a light ray shines through, could be an amazing sight.

It is actually a big hole.

After a while, we entered a larger hall. Very calm and quiet. I could live in this cave if given the chance.

This is the natural form of minerals accumulated over millions of years.

I am no expert in this field, but I would love to learn more about it.

This one looks beautiful.

An overview of the cool pillars.

Some (dripping) are still forming here; perhaps in thousands of years, this will look different, and I will not be present to witness its development.

Ah! Haha, remember that hole I photographed early on? It was an exit opening. I could not stay inside the cave for long enough to admire it.

Most people had already left the cave, except me, the slow one.

I guessed I should catch up with them.

Ooo, another cave?

I wondered how many such caves around in Halong Bay?

This cave differs from the first in that I prefer the inside cave over the outside cave because it could become a bat home.

I feel safe here.

(Credit the guide) Let's have a family shot here.

Find 'something' besides the cave.

I used a translator and I got some information about Stone Stone Stone... What? 😂

(credit Guide) I wanted to use my tripod, but it was too windy and short for an ideal shot, so we still need some human assistance to capture us with the mountains.

Except for my own photos, I do not need any assistance.

We only had a short time here and were asked to load the ship again.

They prepared lunch on the ship, and thankfully, the water was calmed; otherwise, we would have become seasick.

I am glad we had a decent vegetarian meal; if we travelled on our own, I doubt we would have such an arrangement.

... and admired the stunning scenery of Halong Bay.

I heard from the guide that there will be a cruise service attraction soon. It should be fantastic.

All I could think about was how it formed, and what we are seeing is just the tip of the iceberg. What lies beneath the water should be unimaginable.

I was attempting to capture a panoramic view of Halong Bay, but the results were not as good as I had hoped.

I figured I could not eat much because I was bloated from constipation, so I just sat outside the deck and enjoyed the scenery.

I will not say much, but I will leave these photos for my readers to appreciate and marvel at nature's beauty.

Locate a unique rock formation with a small hole beaneth.

According to our tour guide, this distinctive rock is one of the designs for the Vietnamese 200k note.

We had arrived somewhere, but I am not sure where we were.

We were told to take a sampan into a water cave.

Let's go!

We were asked to pass the card, and I was curious whether they checked it.

Queuing up to...

...obtaining a life jacket for ourselves.

We were told to separate because the sampan can only accommodate four passengers...

So my mother and I will be sharing the same sampan with another family.

(credit tour guide) Yippee, here we go!

(credit sampan lady) Everyone smiled for the picture. 🤔 My mother was uncomfortable around strangers for some reason.

I see many sampans entering a small opening in the huge rock.

I was curious what was inside there. Will my claustrophobia become worse?

Smile first, before things got worse.

(credit my cousin) If the water is still and the light is evenly distributed, our sampan may appear to float in the air.

Going to enter the cave.

Oooo, there is a short cave to the other side.

(credit my cousin) Mother, smile and do not be unhappy.

Ah, it is a large opening in the sky surrounded by a rock, the ideal safe zone for anything.

(credit sampan lady) cheer!

Unfortunately, she did not sail us towards the middle and instead made a quick turn.

And exiting out... 🫠

Based on the structure, it appears that this entrance formed naturally.

Towering rock that touches the sky, I was wondering what the view would be like from the top.

We were heading to another cave.

I saw an eagle flying above the sky but was unable to photograph it.

I love the level and depth of this image.

It was about 2 p.m., and the sun appeared to be setting late in the afternoon.

The sampan lady told us that this is a cat; did you notice it?

This cave's distance is very short... I suppose it is just an experience.

(credit my cousin) Did you notice how the sampan appeared to be floating on top of the water? 😂 Just my imagination.

The water had been gradually eroding the rock; in another million years, the entire rock could collapse.

For the time being, simply enjoy the present moment.

(Credit tour guide) Let us take one last group photo for the day before leaving this place.

(Credit tour guide) Satisfying sampan ride.

My favourite of the last few Halong Bay photos is this one because of the layers, different colour tones, and epicness.

I just came up the upper deck to be alone.

Just some me-time.

I wanted to lay down and look out at Halong Bay, but I could not because I had to draft Day 1's blog post... So difficult to keep up.

Sometimes I just set it down and enjoy the scenery.... Then I snored my way back.

(Credit to cousin) My cousin took a better picture than me. 😂 The line, colour, and landscape are all in place.

When we returned to the harbour, our tour bus stopped briefly at Legend Pearl (a tourist attraction that sells pearls); I will not say much more because you can look it up on Google.

On the bus, rushing to finish my first day blog, blogging while travelling seems like an interesting approach... unfortunately, I am too slow... 🫠

We were told to visit the Old Quarter, which was crowded with tourists!

To be honest, I like how the street appears to be happening, but it is repetitive; simply knowing the stall styling allows me to predict the next stall.

My first purchase in Vietnam was a fruit juice to relieve bloating.

When we were on our way for dinner, I happened to witness how they build their foundation and piping.

(credit my mother) I found a dark alley and wanted to take a picture of myself inside the alley emo.

Just as I thought we would be returning to the hotel, the tour guide wanted to take us somewhere interesting.

He wanted us to see the train cutting through the street, as if it were another dragon passing through their congested street every day.

Which was at Hanoi Train Street.

I can not believe I am actually able to visit such a place! I usually see this on video or hear someone mention it.

To get a good seat, you must purchase beverages at the cafes, and the tour guide had reserved a row for us.

Otherwise, securing a good seat is impossible.

Feels like Taiwan shifan at night; is Taiwan shifan like this at night?

We were in a location reserved and paid for by the tour guide. (We definitely had to pay more for a location near the extrance and train track.) What a business boost the dragon gives to the people who work here.

When there was less crowd, I quickly placed my camera for a quick snap while others judged me from every direction. All I wanted was a good picture 🫠

Did I find an interesting location for a photo?

Not so good when a double chin is visible.

Here is the train schedule, which can help anyone plan for the future.

I placed my camera here so that I could take pictures of the approaching train while others covered the typical sides.

Aside from my camera, some people placed two bottle caps to be sacrificed by the train for entertainment.

Hmm weird... The signal warned everyone that the train was approaching, but we have yet to see anything, and as you can see, there was a box (temporary business) placed by locals that has yet to be removed, indicating that there is still time to get to safety.

I could hear the train! It's coming! いく！いく！🤔  wrong word to use... 😂

I tried, and this was the result... 🫠 I just realised I should use the burst mode function... I did not learn it thoroughly enough. And the results were disappointing... Similar to how Jill and Ivy feel about me... 🫠 🫠 🫠

Now I had the ugliest image, which served no purpose other than to remind me that my camera has burst mode!

(Credit tour guide). My tour guide noticed my disappointment and shared his with me, right before the train devoured my camera.

Oh, what kind of items do they sell on Hanoi Train Street? These are the most common items sold on the street, which are quite cute, but I am on a tight budget, so I just fed my camera.

Day 2 focused on understanding how the dragon brings prosperity and life to the Vietnamese people. What a beautiful scenery that I will never forget.

Jeff