Ha Long Bay 2

Our next stop was a much bigger cave, with considerably more tourists (we had Me Cung to ourselves, actually). But clearly Sung Sot Cave was on everyone's list of things to see.


You can see the cave entrances in the hills on the right. Below, if you look back at the entrance once you've come down the first slope and staircase.



Pilyoung from Korea, Joycelin from Papua New Guinea, me, Burcu from Turkey. Below, lovely colors on the ceiling.



Joycelin and I with Rae from Australia. Below, looking out from one section into the ships gathered in the bay outside.



Dogs were surprisingly common on the house boats in the bay. Sunset, as we head back to our boat.


The next day we went to Bai Tho Mountain. This is another of the 12 sites. It's quite a spectacular climb, but rather rough and steep. Once we left steep concrete steps for rock face, my knee decided I'd had enough. I figured I could make it up, but wasn't certain about back down.... In any case, part of our conversations in Ha Long Bay centered on ecotourism, but we also talked a great deal about conservation, community engagement, and the balance with development.


This is Bai Tho Mountain. We climbed nearly to the top! Too bad that the flag isn't visible in this shot, or you'd see exactly to where we climbed. Below, the shutters on the new rest stop they are building along the trail.



Yes, food was certainly a theme. Hue would be the place for spectacular food presentation, but the boat did a wonderful job too.