Ahoy Quan Lan

With better knowledge, we decided again for a bus to get to Ha Long Bay. And it also left very early... Well, then you can still take a little nap... Far from it. In our opinion, the horn, moreover an extremely loud one, was installed inside the bus. And the driver felt like using it continuously. So we arrived a bit annoyed at the harbor. There was a huge mess, masses of foreign tourists, all wanting to go to Ha Long Bay. And those who just came back were pissed off. It literally smelled like a rip-off there. So we followed Plan B, a tip from Hanh, which turned out to be very helpful. We simply didn't go to the island where all the tourists went (Cat Ba), but to a smaller, more untouched island called Quan Lan. Problem: We had to go not only to another departure point in this harbor, no, we had to go to another harbor and the clock was ticking... because there was only one boat left. We made it just in time and enjoyed the boat ride with locals. Upon arrival on Quan Lan, we used a motorbike taxi for the first time to get to the village and squeezed ourselves with our luggage. Unbelievable what all fits on a moped! The lively taxi driver apparently enjoyed the physical contact and at the end of the ride made sure if we were really a couple... after the cozy taxi ride, he must have seen his chance 😉 We spent one night on the island and explored it a bit, but the highlights of the trip were of course the boat tour with round trip through the famous green limestone pillars and islands of Ha Long Bay. According to legend, they are jewels that a dragon once spit out because he wanted to protect someone and confuse the attacking ships with the jewels. Well, something like that... in any case, very worth seeing...