Exploring a Cave in Ha Long Bay by Lukas

On the morning of my trip to Ha Long Bay, I had both feelings of excitement as well as sense of hopefulness that the Ha Long Bay scenery would live up to the high expectations I had formed from watching Hollywood films and beautiful pictures I had seen online. (SPOILER: The view far surpassed anything in the movies, and the picture I took really do not do it justice.)

The bus which picked me up from in front of the hotel arrived 20 minutes after the set arrival time, and I thought to myself “I am really spoiled to be able to use the transportation system back in Japan which always arrives on time.”

I boarded the bus to the sight of faces that I had never seen before looking back at me from a multitude of different countries (people who I would become quite close with throughout my 1 day trip to Ha Long Bay).

When we arrived to dock where all of the boats were tied up, the tour conductor said “All aboard” as he pointed to a medium sized boat to our right.

The boat ride out to where Sung Sot Cave was located, involved navigating in-between several rocky islands coming out of the sea, ranging from the size of a car, to the size of a small office building.

After arriving to the small island where the cave was located, we entered into a small opening and were greeted with a perfectly illuminated cave, filled with stalagmites and stalactites of varying shapes and sizes.

After around half an hour of gazing at the beauty of the cave and listening to the guide’s explanation, it was time to get back on the boat, and eventually start the long bus ride back to the hotel (which took nearly 4 hours) .

All in all it was one of the best places I have ever visited, and I would strongly recommend it to anyone who has an opportunity to visit Vietnam.