Taken on January 1, 2016 in Bai Tu Long Bay

One of the interesting experiences to be had on a junk boat tour in Vietnam is dining in a cave. This cave used to be employed as a shelter for fishermen during storms. Given all the rocky skerries in the bay, I suspect being in a boat in a storm here would be terrifying. However, the caves are now prohibited to those without a license. Because the fishermen took to lopping off stalactites and stalagmites because they make for impressive mountains for bonzai displays–and those displays can be big money makers when done well.

An example of what I’m talking about can be seen below.

This one was located at the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long in Hanoi.