HANOI- HALONG CITY- CAT BA ISLAND

The journey to Halong Bay from Hanoi was 160km, or 4 hrs by car. The speed limit here is 80km/hr on Hwy and 40km or less in built up areas- which is most definitely a blessing, and surprisingly there are very few accidents despite the Seemingly non existent road rules and interweaving cars, buses, push bikes, motorbikes, semi trailers, trucks and the courageous pedestrian! I have to say it is quite amazing to witness rush hour in Hanoi, some how it all just flows. There must be a secret code, as there is no road rage or aggressiveness- even when the driver pulls out into oncoming traffic and continues up the road 500m or so to 'jump the cue'. Vehicles move every which way- anarchy would be the comparison in Melbourne- but here, it just works ( tho I'll admit I now have a greater understanding of Asian drivers skill set in Australia- this explains A LOT!)
The weather in the north is cooler, around 15 deg and the smog from the city tends to blend and become the mist and fog on the coast- so we still haven't seen the sun or stars, and the 'views' were all fogged in, however was still totally worth the 8 hrs of motion sickness from on/off accelerator driving. Kerry of course has been cured of all forms of motion sickness, after her 2 day boat trip across Drakes Pasaage to Antarctica a few years ago, which was two score off a hurricane- not sure I'm willing to take that remedy!
Halong bay is believed to be the Loch ness of vietnam- an archipelago of stony karsts, mountainous limestone formations, that weave throughout the Bay like the tail of a Dragon dipping in and out of the water. From a distance it looks like one solid land mass- an illusion the over lapping position of all these islands create.
We spent 2days cruising on a sleeper Junk (which looked like something Captain Jack Sparrow would like to get his hands on), climbing through a huge limestone "Amazing Cave", kayaking through hidden caves to spectacular lagoons, and hiking- or should we say rock climbing 1 km, 300m straight up to navy peak lookout. Which apparently was the lookout the Vietnam soldiers used to check out what the Americans were up to during the war.
Navy peak was on Cat Ba Island- a national park which is part of the Ha Long Bay heritage reserve. There are some villagers that live on this larger island- the rest are inhabitable except for monkeys and hawks. We walked 6km into the village and had a fabulous vegetarian lunch prepared by a local family. Even though Cat Ba island is now a world heritage site, thankfully, unlike china, the government allows these families to remain living on the island- some as protectors/ keepers of the national park, and some are clam farmers that travel out to the bay each day. Whilst cruising around the myriad of stony islands, we passed by a floating village. Approx 700 people live literally on the water, and are the poorest of the poor. They have a small school which the government provides for the kids, as these families very very rarely would travel the 2.5hrs by larger boat to the mainland. Most of these families use bamboo oarred boats, while few have two stroke putt-putts. These floating 'houses' have big nets underneath which store the fish, squid, crabs etc that they catch to sell to the mainland. And believe me, when they say fresh fish they mean it ( whilst waiting to depart in Hanoi we saw a vendor carrying a bucket of fish lying in a little water- yes they were still alive- the image is burnt in mind and brings me to tears again when I recall it. It's a fine line between feeling the sadness of how people live, choose to live, and the actions they take in that life without attaching a judgement to that sadness- I have more lessons in Love yet to learn.
The stony islands amongst the fog was quite mystical- very Pirates of the Caribbean crossed with the floating mountains of Pandora in Avatar. ( see photo album Ha Long Bay).
We had an awesome guide named Hung, who we have absconded for a private tour further down south at Ninh Binh- we would much rather support Hung and his family directly, than the pittance they receive through the tour company. His English is quite good, not too many games of charades, and we have had some awesome chats about Vietnam culture, his Buddhist beliefs and what happens when you die in the spirit world. He has given up convincing us to try dog- that we quashed in the first day, tho he says rat is also a consideration if it's cooked correctly.
Hung is from a village 4hrs away, his wife and 3yr old son live in his parents home. His parent were rice farmers. Most of the farm land is rented from the government- it is rare for a family to own the land they tend. Being the eldest son, ( he has a sister 5yrs older), it is his responsibility to provide for his parents and his own family. He went to uni and studied tourism- but needs to live away from his family to make money. He goes home 4 days a month. He says corruption is everywhere here, he hopes to leave this work and work for the government (slightly better conditions) however you have to pay someone who knows someone, to get a job with the government.
If you are sick, you must pay up front to hospital- and you must tip the doctor or they will not treat you. If you don't pay them enough, you get treated very badly. His dad died at 50 from stomach cancer 15 yrs ago. Hung is now 31. When Hung's father became ill they could not afford medical help, so used herbs and natural remedies. He lived for 12mths before he passed in Hung's arms. He said he could feel his breath become smaller and smaller, and feel his spirit leaving as the energy drained from his legs, up his body and out to join the spirit world. Very special. It is also Hung's responsibility to prepare the body for burial. Westerners have become so removed from the truth and realities of life- a blindness in many ways.
We returned to Hanoi after 3days, had a much needed foot massage in preparation for our next big walk in Ninh Binh Province.

*****HA LONG HIGHLIGHTS****
2nd day: Kerry
After spending the night on a four star Junk, where were advised by Hung that we were to transfer to another boat for the next night. However, I neglected to listen to the finer details of the days adventures and as the transfer boat docked to ours, we climbed aboard( no OHS jumped from one to the other very precariously) and as I looked around in shock, nightmares of the Lonely Planets " not to do budget trips" had manifest before me. I envisaged sleeping with rats and eating roast dog, as the open trap door of the engine room billowed black diesel smoke into the seating area. I looked at Paige and then our guide and said- "PLEASE don't tell me we are sleeping on this boat?!" To which they both laughed and assured me it was simply the TRANSFER boat for the days activities. "PHEW!!!!"

EXTREME HIKING AKA ROCK SCRAMBLING
Here we were decked out in our hiking gear- the trekkin poles, the boots the whole kit and caboodle and our guide Hung changed his shoes for a pair of ....rubber flip flops...to climb this ascent. Hung was all of 40kg dripping wet, and scaled up this steep rock face like a mountain goat, whilst Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum scrambled slipped and slid as the ascent got steeper and steeper! We decided this was rock climbing not Hiking!! But determined to reach the peak ( even though we knew we wouldn't be able to see a thing due to the fog) we hauled ourselves onward and upward- not daring to look up or think about the potentially treacherous journey back down! Paige was in a state of terror the whole time, and had decided death would be easier than the mentally conjured up the need for stretcher bearers and some healing magic required for her compound fracture as a result of her not so eloquent tumble to the bottom of the mountain- whilst Kerry on the other hand, calmly took it step by step without Intrepidation! Did we mention it was a wet muddy jungle!! (this is Paige trying to justify her over active imagination!)

KAYAKING VIETNAM STYLE
Once the heart rate returned to normal and the legs stopped shaking from the intense decent, we cheated a bit and took a motorbike ride back to the boat rather than walking the 5 km out. The transfer boat then took us to the rendezvous point for kayaking through the hidden caves.
Again we had to step half a body length down to the kayak pontoon, which I kid you not, was a bamboo grid 15ft x 20ft, poles of bamboo tied together 2 ft apart, with a little narrow walk way in the centre which had to be carefully negotiated with these size 9 feet-otherwise you'd end up in the water- which incidentally nearly happened as I was so paranoid about falling, I tripped on the end of a kayak but recovered well, to the soundtrack of gasping Ooos and ahhhs. ( sadly we have no photos of this as we thought the camera had a high probability of ending up in the water- as you can read from above that was a wise decision!)
We then maneuvered our way into kayaks that were made for short legged Vietnamese ( seriously wondering if a can opener was going to be necessary to get us out!) we paddled our way throughout lagoons and dark caves amongst these spectacular stony islands. It was so quiet and peaceful- we inadvertently found ourselves whispering as we entered the hidden lagoon, as if it were a sacred place- magical. Unfortunately it was getting dark and we had to make our way back to meet the boat we would be sleeping on. As we mentioned before, it was rather a large precarious step down from the transfer boat to the bamboo pontoon, so the captain decided we would board an easier way...easier hey...we crossed the narrow walk way only to discover that we would be lifting one foot up to waist height on the edge of the boat and hoist ourselves up to...wait for it...climb through a side window!!! OMG what a laugh- Kerry was in hysterics laughing at these three Vietnamese guys half the size of me, trying to help me haul my butt up and through this narrow window!!! Well and truly a Minties moment!!! We did want to experience authentic vietnamese life- be careful what you wish for!! We were the only ones taking this particular tour, so maybe that's why- cos I have no idea how the typical retiree traveling on the same sleeping boat would have handled this. It certainly made the tour memorable and uniquely ours!!!