Ha Long Bay…

January 30,2025

We woke as we were sailing into Ha Long Bay, to a beautiful eerie mist and thousands of limestone karsts. Ha Long Bay lies in the South China Sea, in Northeastern Vietnam.

The sail in was beautiful, long and very, very quiet. We were scheduled to dock at 1:00 pm, so we slept in, enjoyed coffee and pastries in our stateroom, periodically jumping out to the balcony to enjoy the many karsts and iselets…then headed up to Marketplace for lunch.

We dined on the aft deck, loving the scenery.

Chef Marcin is highly visible and keeps a keen eye on his domain.

This adorable family gave me permission to share these photos…the eldest son brought the pigs’ head to the table as a gift to his dad. There was much merriment, laughing and kidding around. It is a joy witnessing such a loving, happy family enjoying their vacation.

After lunch, we spent a few minutes watching the port crew struggling to erect the boarding ramp. It was interesting to note that several of the workers were in suits.

We met our guide Le and his driver Mr. D at 2:00 pm and drove to the Quang Ninh museum…

…snapping photos along the way.

Le explained the lack of traffic and activity as being due to the Lunar New Year.

The museum is a striking architectural marvel, designed by Spanish architect Salvatore Perez Arroyo.

Inspired by the region’s coal mining heritage, the building resembles a gleaming black lump of coal, with the exterior reflecting like a giant mirror.

The entranceway was impressive with a three story whale skeleton on display.

We explored several exhibits featuring fish life, insects and lots of oyster and clam shells.

These exhibits spanned several floors…reachable by circular ramps/stairs…sometimes I left Timmy and Le and ran up to view the odd butterfly.

…and the odd visitor 😊

In addition to coal mining, there’s a rich fishing history.

An ancient drum

These logs were used in a famous sea battle to fend off invading Mongols at the mouth of the bay.

As we were exploring the second floor, we became aware of an adorable shadow…

…this little guy and his sister were following us through the exhibits…their mom close by.

Finally he came up to me and said “hello” …I engaged him, learning that he’s six years old, has a girlfriend and speaks beautiful English. His sister joined us…she’s nine and beyond adorable. It’s clear that Timmy and I were curiosities.

We took their photos…the mom took ours ♥️

We love museums and were grateful to have a peak into the origins of such a rich culture.

Our final exhibition …a display addressing the origins and history of the American War.

”history is written by the victors”…

Very interesting that the only access to the museum is via these stairs

…or those stairs.

We left the museum and Mr. D drove us to area of the Long Tien Pagoda.

We walked through the streets taking in the Lunar New Year ambiance.

…Can you spot Timmy?

Green and white cotton candy near the crepe stand.

That’s the temple, at the end of the pedestrian walkway

So many balloons…for such a tiny scooter.

Entrance to the temple.

Through the arch

These are pomelos…the flesh looks like grapefruit…tastes sweeter.

These folks will write your name in Chinese characters.

Le telling us about temple

Again we became the objects of curious children …these siblings also followed us. The little guy approached me …we chatted for a few minutes and they posed with Timmy. The childrens’ parents were delightful and so happy and proud of their kid’s English skills. We asked Le about the coincidence of two sets of siblings being so taken with us. His theory is that they rarely see Western people.