Hạ Long Bay is pretty. It is perhaps one of the most picturesque places I have seen while in Vietnam. Most people decide to base themselves in Hạ Long City, but we opted to base ourselves in Cát Bà Town instead. And on one of our full days in town, we opted to do a full day trip to the bay.
Cát Bà Town has quite some developments on the main street facing the water, which visually isn't the most appealing thing. Nevertheless, creature comforts for the short-term visitor are quite available. Our day trip started from here, and we passed some floating villages on the way. I cannot imagine myself living long-term over water, so I think about how these people have managed to be in these conditions. They even have pets, like dogs, who skilfully navigate the series of planks and cross from one floating structure to another.
We spent the whole day on water. Our boat glided past plenty of amazing limestone karst structures, jutting out of the water like an otherworldly scene. It felt like almost everywhere I looked, there was beauty. Of course until I saw some floating trash stuck within a cove.
There was an opportunity to go kayaking, as well as swimming. But for me the thing I enjoyed the most (aside from the views, of course) was when we docked in Monkey Island. There were plenty of monkeys which would every now and then steal food from visitors. And there was this strenuous trek to the top of the rock, which was slightly technically difficult, but definitely worth the effort.
