Halong Bay - Photoshop and German weather

Of course, we'll also book a trip to the world-famous Halong Bay. This highlight with its unique rock formations, deep blue water, and picturesque surroundings is a must-see. In the morning, we'll be picked up by our tour operator and off we go. Our tour guide is very attentive, but sometimes we're not sure if she's speaking Vietnamese or English. Rest breaks are naturally only taken at huge tourist shops, so you have to fight your way through a horde of sellers, colorful pictures, gigantic Buddha figures, and fridge magnets to get to the restroom.

But eventually, we reach our destination, the famous Halong Bay. It's very gray. Foggy. Gloomy. Cool. Windy. The perfect day for a nice boat ride. But we still have to be patient because our little ship seems to have not yet arrived in this chaos here at the harbor. We do some exercises to keep from freezing too much, when suddenly the boats in front of us are simply pushed aside and another boat snatches its mooring place. Ours. Quick, let's go inside, there's something warm to eat now. For once, I'm not the only vegetarian in our group, so Sebastian is the last meat-eater left at our table. But that doesn't bother the waiter, she keeps bringing more and more meat and fish - Sebastian doesn't have to suffer from hunger. But there are also many vegetarian options, so we all sit inside the ship and munch away as we slowly move out into the bay.

It looks pretty nice, but we don't really want to go out on the deck, it's too cold. It's a good thing you can open the windows to take photos from down here. It's so gloomy that I have serious doubts whether the posters of Halong Bay with its deep blue water, bright sunshine, and lush green rocks are all photoshopped.

Now comes tour highlight 1: switching to a small rowing boat. Where are we going? No idea! We just let it happen because you don't get a lot of information here and the language barrier is an obstacle too. So the four of us sit in bright life jackets with a nice older rower in the boat, who paddles us in a circle. Done.

Tour highlight 2: visiting a cave. It's really impressive though. Maybe not as impressive as the crowds of tourists being herded through here, but impressive. And huge. Everywhere you can find bizarre rock formations and stalactites.

We'll cruise around the bay for a bit before heading back to Hanoi by minivan. Halong Bay is definitely worth a visit. And you can't avoid the tourists because it's a tourist attraction after all. Maybe it's better to go in better weather.