The New York-based travel site has drawn up a list of beautiful places in Southeast Asia for people to visit “before travel fever undermines their raw beauty.”

The only Vietnamese place on the list is the Lan Ha Bay, relatively unknown sister of the world-famous Ha Long Bay.

Located to the east of Cat Ba Island in the northern city of Hai Phong, the 7,000-hectare wide bay is home to around 400 islands of all shapes.

Cat Ba is the largest island in the bay, where people can “rent a boat to explore, or spend the day swimming,” Thrillist says.

At the Ben Beo Wharf on Cat Ba, tickets can be bought for a cruise around Lan Ha Bay. A boat or a motorboat can also be hired here.

The Cai Beo fishing village, said to be the oldest of its kind in Vietnam and considered a living museum of Vietnamese fishing culture, is “still an overlooked treasure on the island.”

The floating village, with around 300 households living on catching and/or farming fish, consists of dozens of floating houses rising above green clear waters against glistening rocky mountains and blue skies.

Other destinations in the region recommended by Thrillist include the Kelimutu Lake in Indonesia, Kuang Si Falls in Laos, Tun Sakaran Marine Park in Malaysia, Banaue rice terraces in the Philippines and Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay.

Intrepid, a U.K.-based travel company, recently put Vietnam on top of its list of ideal September destinations.

VnExpress.net