Halong Bay

Halong Bay was the first place I remember reading about when researching this trip months ago. Now that we finally made it to northern Vietnam I was so excited about finally getting here, for reaching it signified for me how far we've come and also hammered home how amazing this trip has been. I realised how lucky I am to reach a place that I could only imagine about all those months ago. As cheesy as that sounds, it felt quite symbolic for me!

Having decided on a three day, two night tour of the area we haggled for the cheapest option as we've come to learn that no matter what you pay for in Vietnam everyone gets the same deal! An early pick-up meant we hit Halong City by about 1pm and had lunch on our boat 'Cong Nghia.'. We got talking to an Australian couple - Jane and Andy, who were really sound, and were on their honeymoon as it turns out! As the day rolled by we began to realise what we paid for was not exactly what we were gonna get. So the four of us laughed it off as much as possible. The AMAAAAAZZING scenery more than made up for it. I can't think up enough adjectives to describe Halong. It was breath-taking. The weather was fantastic. We again were so lucky as a few days previous the area had been hit by the tail end of the cyclone from South China and no boats could sail, but on our arrival the bay was calm and serene.

Initially there was some chaos guiding all the hoards of tourists onto the correct boats! On any given day there are approximately 400 boats in the bay. The harbour area was jam-packed! Luckily all the boats (big wooden junks) are very charming to look at and so don't ruin the view. Once aboard there was an entertaining few minutes as everyone guessed as to how our captain was going to navigate his way out and around the traffic without hitting anything! It seems that was no concern of his, and after a few bumps we were off in the right direction - problem solved!

Once sailing we climbed to the upper deck and sat back and soaked in the view. It met all my expectations. It looks like a giant mountain range submerged in the ocean. The huge limestone karsts jut out of the water into the sky. In these porous rock peaks are many caves and and our first stop was to visit one - Thien Cung cave. As caves go I can't say I was very excited, but once inside that all changed. It was flippin' enormous, stalagmites and stalagtites everywhere, pillars to beat the band - my old geography teacher Mrs. Mullagh would have had gone into overload with this one! At one point through a large hole in the roof a shaft of sunlight came streaming in creating a lovely angelic glow! All very impressive.

We floated through the remainder of the day passing small villages in the bay, including a floating bank at one point! Our "guide" (he being the only one with a smattering of English) was subjected to a few tantrums from silly tourists who had bought their tickets from a cowboy in Halong and were outraged when told their tickets were invalid. I found him later smoking what looked like a large opium pipe, pullling on it like his life depended on it! He was way too much of a yes man which is infuriating when it isn't a yes or no question! Most of the crew were slightly inebriated/ high. There was a general air of chaos on the boat. No one quite knew what the itinerary was!

Meanwhile up on deck Jane, Andy, myself and James had a few beers and hoped our guide knew what he was at. Dinner came after the crew had a few rounds on the pipe, a few beers and ate themselves. At this point our expectations weren't too high so we just sat back and enjoyed the view.

We had dinner with French couple (who James spent a lot of time unearthing his schoolboy French with to tell them what the feck was going on since they didn't have a word of the Queen's between them) and Israeli couple Inball and Guy. After a few games of cards we hit the beds.

Our room wasn't quite what we paid for, no fan or ac. We pulled the windows open to let some air in and we could just about make out the giant shapes of the karsts as we glided by. It was fantatic to wake up in the middle of the night, both our heads hanging out of our window to see the murky peaks of the bay looming by in the mist so no real complaints there!

The following morning we arose in time for some kayaking at 6.30am!!!! Not much of a morning person I didn't think I was gonnna be too enthused about the whole affair at that ungodly hour, however the view from our wee cabin was spectacular when I opened my eyes!!! Having caught my attention we were up and out kayaking on Halong Bay before we knew it! Breakfast around 7.30am and we were set for the day!

We docked at Cat Ba Island that morning. It was like the guidebook said - "straight out of Jurassic Park." It was spectacular. A very mountainous green lush island. We trekked for 3 hours uphill and over a mountain peak. Then clambered downhill over rock before curving uphill again. The views were beautiful. Mountain after mountain with covered in a green canopy. It felt like we were miles from civilisation. Our guide was skipping along in his flip flops barely breaking a sweat while we all huffed and puffed behind him, getting redder by the minute. We broke from beneath the canopy to climb higher to a view point. This involved a scramble over rocks to the top, and it wasn't till we were almost there that we realised how high up we were! The view was worth the scare, it felt like being on top of the world. A few snaps later we made a slow descent back to the bottom.

We were planted at our hotel for the night to be greeted by more "merry" staff who showed us our room on the 6th floor (no elevators in Vietnam by the by) - another mountain to climb! ha! We made off to the beach for the rest of the afternoon to cool off and chill out. Jaysus it's tough!

Cat Ba has stall after stall selling pearls. I had never thought of myself as much of a pearl woman but it seems I'll buy anything that's good value - I'm sure that surprises none of you! James caght the bug too and it wasn't long before we were playing the stall sellers off each other, well at least James was. he's a great haggler. It was all highly entertaining on my part, he got a good price for me and I came away with enough pearls to set up a stall of my own. Christmas and birthday presents sorted for a year or two! Heehee!

Back on the boat the next day, and we chugged back to Halong City taking in the last views of the bay and felt grateful for having seen it in all its glory.