Ha Long Bay. I’m lying in the sun. In just a few hours I’ll be back in Hanoi and the next morning I’ll be on my way to Ninh Binh. And it will be exactly like in Ha Long, but with rice fields instead of water and bikes instead of a boat. I’m lying in the sun, daydreaming about these rice fields and I’m checking my mailbox. Long story short: our hotel cancelled the reservation, there’ heavy flooding in Ninh Binh, actually it’s a natural disaster, our hotel in Hanoi forbids us to go to Ninh Binh, it’s serious, over 40 people died. October is perfect for Northern Vietnam, they…
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Vietnam: Ha Long Bay
You can’t go to Vietnam and skip Ha Long Bay. You just can’t. Maybe I’ll forgive you if you’re going only to the south. Maybe. “Ha Long Bay” translates to: the bay where the dragon descends into. How romantic. Because Internet is full of “where a dragon descends” titles, I will stick to Ha Long. It’s shorter. But why is this dragon descending? Of course there’s a story. There always is (remember the one about Three Sisters? Click here). And it goes more or less like this: long, long time ago, Vietnamese people where fighting with an invader and gods sent dragons to help them. Dragons which were spitting jewels…