Halong Bay is undoubtedly one of the most scenic places on earth, but when I went there on holiday in 2001, it rained all of the time, so I came away with almost no photographs. So when I was in Vietnam on business the following year, and had a weekend free in Hanoi, I decided to head out to Halong Bay again to take some more photographs.

I hired a car and driver for 1.2 million dong (US$80) for the day and a half trip from a local car hire firm (I avoided doing it through the hotel as that was three times the price). Id asked ... (more)