Part 65: Halong bay....
I woke early at 7.00 am very much looking forward to the Halong Bay trip, and to see if it lived up to the hype of being a UNESCO world heritage site. The weather was damp and drizzly, much like it had been since I arrived in Vietnam - and it didn't look like I'd be getting my sun cream out today either.
Both me and Martin patiently waited in hostel reception for the bus to the bay which was 170 km east of Hanoi, taking around 4 hours. Luckily he was pretty much the perfect company to have to share the experience with - a genuine nice guy, and more importantly, easy to talk to. We got on really well from the off.
The bus journey was comfortable, if not a little scary at times, especially when the driver played chicken with oncoming traffic, although our designated, and rather charismatic young guide was doing his best to distract us from the long journey by giving us an immediate insight into the history of the bay, through a series of amusing jokes, funny quips and old tales.
We learned that Halong translates as 'Descending Dragon' with legends claiming the islands of the mythical bay were created by a great dragon that came from the mountains. As it flew towards the coast, its huge tail gouged out valleys, then when it finally plunged into the sea, the area filled with water, leaving only the famous peaks visible.
The journey was further broken up by a stop at a tourist trap service station, packed full of cheesy souvenirs. Still it was amusing being dumped off one end and having to get back on the bus the other side, walking right through the middle of all the souvenir stalls in the hope you'd buy something.
We arrived at the port in Halong City around midday having absorbed as much info on the bay as I possibly could take the whole way here.
The grey clouds hadn't cleared yet, and the ensuing mist made visibility low, but it added an almost eerie feel to the rocks.
We queued on the jetty for a while before being bundled into a small transit boat for a short ride towards the much larger 'imperial junk' sailing boat where we would be spending the next day and a half cruising this spectacular bay.
Our boat looked quite rustic and could have done with a bit of a paint job, but soon as we climbed aboard it was far nicer on the inside.
The magnificent limestone karst's which were every bit as spectacular as I'd imagined, distracted me from the unsightly view of hundreds of tourists boarding the scores of other boats all around which was a little bit of a put off, but fully to be expected I guess.
After our guide gave us another brief introduction and itinerary that seemed quite regimented, we were shown to our rooms aboard the boat. They were clean and quaint, and had a good size window giving us a marvellous view of the natural wonders scattered around the sea. And yes it was one of the most picturesque places I had ever seen.
In total there were nearly 2000 of these towering majestic rocks shaped and moulded by nature.
Before long we started to cruise the waters, so calmly I barely even noticed we moved at all, heading towards a small cluster of islands.
We unloaded and settled our things into our rooms and met back on the upper deck shortly for dinner, there, we made introductions with a couple of friendly Americans who joined us at our table - we immediately began an in depth discussion about online social media and wifi - always an interesting debate over a huge sumptuous feast of freshly cooked food.
After lunch, we ambled around the deck, taking pictures of the amazing rock structures and scenery while the boat made it’s way toward our afternoon stop; the caves.
Once again we loaded onto a small boat and took off toward a cliff face with a wooden staircase above us where there was a congested bottle neck of German tourists gathering. We then ascended the stairs and were greeted with some fantastic views of the misty bay at the top.
Once inside the caves, there was one vast cavern followed by another, and at this point I found myself unintentionally not listening to our guide anymore, apart from learning the Vietnamese took refuge inside here during US bombings, I could not recall anything else sadly.
We continued to wander through, weaving in and out of the scores of other tourists, craning our necks to see the tops of the interesting formations and stalactites whilst we occasionally stopped to take pictures.
The caverns were so overwhelmingly huge and beautifully lit with dozens of intricately coloured small lighting, but at times with the tourists and different guides all around waffling, made it a tad annoying. Martin appeared to have the correct idea wandering away from the group alone to take it in at his pace and not the other way around.
Thousands of years ago all these stunning caverns were submerged under the sea like the islands and karst's all around the bay giving them these wonderful formations.
It wasn't any less annoying on the way out sadly with even more queues of people rushing to get back on their boats.
Next stop after the caves was for a spot of Kayaking. The temperature had dipped considerably and getting into the kayaks, already an inch deep in cold water was slightly uncomfortable, but all that was forgotten the minute we started paddling. Luckily Martin displayed his expertise - unlike myself; but what an incredible way to get up close to the karst's this was, as we both glided through the calm waters taking in more spectacular scenery. It was quite late in the day and most of the other tourists (luckily for us) had gone back to their boats, so it meant there were only a few people around - I cant think of many better ways to kayak in extraordinary backdrops cloaked by a mystical haze than this.
It was time to head back to the boat, cold wet but still buzzing from the views. I got chatting to an older chap from our group on our boat and he named the tattoos on my leg in a strong Memphis Tennessee accent. Turns out he was a retired radio DJ and an avid record collector, with an awesome radio voice - we instantly had lots in common.
Once back on our 'imperial junk' we were afforded an hour to wash and get ready for an evening meal whilst the boat anchored to the bay. Unfortunately, due to the grey sky's and clouds there was no dramatic sunset, but the sea was calm and watching the giant formations disappear into the misty night was no less spectacular.
Rebecca and Coby, our chirpy American friends once more joined myself and Martin for supper and another helping of interesting debate. Everyone else on the boat relaxed more into the evening as the drinks began to flow, especially when Dave the Memphis DJ cracked open a huge bottle of 'Gentlemans Jack' Tennessee whiskey and shared it around.
We were all in the mood for the karaoke party the guide kept bragging about, even if some of the staff didn't exactly set the world on fire with their own renditions of Vietnamese love songs, and it wasn't too long before me and Martin took the stage for our very own bad version of 'Hey Jude' - still it seemed to go down pretty well.
Then everyone one else had a go - reluctantly at first, then as we all got more drunk, the songs soon came thick and fast.
I'm not sure what me and Martin were thinking when we picked Abba's 'Voulez vouz' to sing; that unsurprisingly had people laughing, but in our defence, the selections were pretty poor.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable night, and a great end to the day, with the alcohol inevitably taking its toll before we all retired to our quarters.
The next day were were woken for breakfast at 7:30 am, and finally the skies cleared for the first time, turning the water a wonderful emerald colour. The boat did not move an inch over night which was just as well or I may have suffered for being so drunk.
Our beaming guide talked us through the last part of the tour starting with a visit to a cultivated pearl farm/fishing village and we boarded the transit boat for the short ride there.
It was pretty fascinating to see the whole procedure from beginning to end culminating in the small 25% chance of actually producing a pearl - it was a lot of work for such low odds of an end result.
Watching the pearl farmers work was a picture of concentration and seriousness as they worked on, despite the clicking cameras or tourists in their faces. Again it was hard to remember all the information, although I definitely felt more enlightened.
The last part of the tour would be a cookery class and yet even more food, which I did not have any room for.
Still we were ushered onto the transit boat and back towards the imperial junk where the guests were separated. Some went onto one of the nearby islands to spend a further night whilst the others took part in the cookery class. The guide demonstrated how to make the prefect spring roll as we all watched on, then picked me first to follow suit. I felt the pressure under the watchful eyes of the other passengers, but actually delivered a reasonable attempt.
Martin in the meantime sat on the boats roof for some alone time listening to music and it wasn't too long before I joined him.
The atmosphere was so peaceful and serene as we slowly sailed back to Halong bay. This more than lived up to my expectations. Despite the floods of tourists, it did not detract from the tranquility and sheer beauty of this world heritage sight. The enchanting rocks and islands rising out of the sea blew me away.
There is no better way to soak up the epic landscapes than to cruise the famous gulf of Tonkin and witness first hand the 'descending dragons' mythical work.