Our immediate reaction was of a pirate's retreat. The small port was full of wooden overnight boats with dragon mastheads...
... and women in small rowboats would come bearing trinkets and treasure. Treasures like bottled water and soda, 10,000 Dong.
As legend goes, the bay and its intricate network of caves (stunning, but doesn't photograph too well) was created by a dragon, writhing and thrashing on its way to the ocean. There's a romantic, if fanciful, explanation for most natural forms here.
This is the scene on the majority of Ha Long Bay postcards. Our guide tried to conjure the image of a rooster and hen kissing, or something of the like. Our walk through the caves was speckled with commentary on all the turtles, dragons, and jellyfish supposedly in the formations. Then the guide would mischievously confide the phallic nature of the stalagmites.
There's nothing quite like waking on the water to catch the sunrise.
