Before Tung drives us back from the hills to Hanoi, he has another surprise for us. At 5 AM we leave to Ha Long Bay and once there, we find a true tourist industry.
Barriers, ticket inspectors and hundreds of wooden canal boats. They bring the tourists to a fairylike environment: Ha Long Bay, where giant rock massifs were sticking up criss cross out of the water.Together they form a maze that leaps the child in ourselves in joy. Tung rented a whole boat for a few hours and meandering through the formations we stared our eyes out. Despite the tourist content, it is a fairy tale for us. On the way we moor at one of the rock formations. And there they add a a little extra. We enter a hollow space inside, in which a giant stalactite cave unfolds before our eyes. All the shapes in the caverns are illuminated with colours.

This is really too much of a good thing. It is one great décor for a tremendous kitsch opera . Ha Long Bay is brought under the colours of Unesco as a tourist resort to preserve it as a wonder of the world. The cow is milked empty such that we fear for the life of the monster. Everywhere in Vietnam signs point towards her. If you are in Viet Nam, you need to call in at Ha Long Bay. And touching or not, it remains an impressive place on earth.

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