February 6, 2012
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Vietnam Part 5: Ha Long is a Vietnamese cavern.
The second and final stop on the Ha Long Bay boat tour.
Vietnam is home to some of the world’s largest natural caverns, with the largest one in the world being discovered a few years ago. The ones in Ha Long Bay aren’t as large, but still impressive. One thing you’ll notice immediately is their use of colored lights in the cavern, which kind of detracts from the grandness of it all.
But you get used to it. The formations are still spectacular regardless.
This kind of looks like an alien’s head.
An opening to the outside.
There are people in this photo for size reference.
Sometimes I think about how neat it must have been to be the first to discover a natural cavern- just inky darkness and the unknown lit with only your light.
Not David Nguyen: “I don’t get it, what am I looking at?”
Me: “See? It’s a guy looking up at the girl, and she’s looking away from him. UNREQUITED LOVE.”
Me: “I like it.”
Not David Nguyen: “You WOULD like it.”Darkness set in for the 3 ½ hour ride back to Hanoi. The roads out here are horrible- you max out at maybe 40 miles per hour because the roads are that bumpy. I sat in the rear of the bus, with each bump magnified to where I would occasionally hit my head on the roof of the tour van. The roads are also all dimly lit, if at all, feeding into the superstitions my dad told me about when he was growing up in Vietnam.
Riding through the country at night for the first time is a spectacular site. Vietnam is still very much a developing country, and at night riding through the country, you can see straight in through the lit doorways into the living rooms of most people’s houses. But one thing I noticed in almost all these houses in the evening was the presence of at least a CRT television shining back out into the streets. Even in a shanty under an overpass, somehow there was still electricity hooked up to power a television as we drove by.
End day two.
Comments (4)
My husband told me about these nice caverns (somewhere in the U.S.) and it’s due to the lighting. It’s kind of disappointing that they have to use ‘spotlights’.
I think the black and white shot shows the best texture and details of the cavern.
reminds me of carlsbad cavern
that first picture looks pretty spectacular. i’m trying to imagine how it smells there
@Femme003 - Yeah, B&W was better, but I felt like color photos gave more of the feel of Vietnam. I think asian people just like bright colors.
@joooolie - Haha, it smells alright. It’s cold in there, so pretty odorless. Smells like a lot of caverns I’ve been to in the US.