Halong Bay ... wow.

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  Halong Bay, Vietnam
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

I woke up late and Kim had already left to go and sort the trip out, when she returned we had got a relative bargain of $40 for two days, all food, sea kayaking, swimming and sunset in the bay - baragin.

The pickup was at half eleven so we went to get a leisurely breakfast of banana pancakes, yesterday a fast fading memory to be laughed at in the future. We arrived at the dock to complete and utter mayhem, but fortunatley this is what we had been expecting. Around 400 boats with between 10 and 40 people unload and reload at the dock between 11am and 1pm everyday. Getting to your boat is the job of the tour guides, of which we ended up having three of in the space of an hour, how they keep track of everyone i have no idea. In the crowd we bumped into a couple we had met at the beaches in Cambodia, they had just returned saying that is was stunning and they had paid less than we had, hence we were expecting quite a spread.

I'll just take a line or two here to mention another difference between north and sounth and that is the humidity (>90%). Oh my God. By the time i had been standing around and carrying the pack between places i was drenched. And unlike the south you stay like that for the rest of the day as there is simply nowhere for the water to evaporate to. It makes just being outside actually quite dificult for anything more than about an hour.

We eventually got to the boat and found that were we two of only 12 people in total on the cruise and the only two english. There were 2 germans, 2 dutch and 6 french - inc a family. We set off towards the bay with the limestone Karsts in the distance. We dropped anchor about halfway out and had lunch, two courses of relatively simple stuff but really good too. (i was the only one to have a beer). After this we approached the Karstes and it really is stunning, i don't really know that any description here or the photos we took (about 150 of them) will do it justice, you will have to come and see it for yourself i guess. We went to some of the limestone caves that are within some of the larger formations, full of stalagmite and stalagtites with the usual interpretation of - that one looks like a lion/tiger/snake/breast. They really were magnificent. Back to the boat and round past the floating villages selling fruit and water to the tourists and onto the place where we were to do sea kayaking. Unfortunately were were restricted to a certain area and time but we managed to get a lightweight kayak and set off ahead of everyone. The first cave leads into a lagoon which is completely enclosed by 100ft vertical limestone cliffs covered with jungle foliage and with huge Buzzards wheeling overhead on the thermals. We could have been extras in Jurassic Park. The nature of the enclosure meant that there was absolutely no human noise to be heard and when we made any we were supplied with a perfect echo. Stunning. The second cave was similar but with a second exit out to the floating villages. We kept being followed by the rest of our shipmates predictably but exiting when they arrived meant we could have some time completely isolated which was amazing.

Sailing further round to cat ba island and to the dock for many more people to exit and arrive before dropping achor for the night. With quite a lot of light left before sundown we were allowed to swim in the waters (altho distinctly not that clean - 400 boats per day empty into these waters altho there is a strong tide) and jump/bomb/dive from the upper decks of the boat. The German guy taking the lead and immediatly diving head first from the 25ft deck. The french kids (around 10 and 12 i would guess) with their dad was next. I eventually went in too as did kim and everyone else. Finally ending up climbing onto the drivers cabin roof and jumping 5ft clear of the railings and 30ft down to the waters below, great fun but it bloody hurt if you messed up the landing!

We left the french and german guys to their diving and found a quiet spot at the back of the boat to watch the sun go down over the Karsts, feeling in a warm and completative mood with various atmospheric songs quitely emanating from the zen. I watched until the rocks were silhouetted against the nights sky and the stars came out. Even saw my first proper shooting star as we laid there on the deck away from everyone. One of the best and most peaceful moments i can remember.

Diner was eventually served and a few beers later and more star watching we went to bed with aim of seeing sunrise too at 5am. It was seriously hot in the cabin below and didn't get much cooler during the night but we survived and rose to greet the sunrise. Unfortunatly the clouds had rolled in and there wasn't much to be seen so we went back to sleep until breakfast. After this we docked at Cat Ba for loading and unloading of people and we were swapped to another boat to get back to the mainland. Gentle cruise back and through the melee of people at the dock to lunch and finally to a minibus back to Hanoi. Wandering around we picked guesthouse after guesthouse until we found one with a room for $15 as the rest were more expensive. I went up to have a look and there was one guy lying on the bed texting and another painting a wall. Hmmm.. The girl at reception who we though was drunk - turns out she was just ditzy - assured us that it would be ready in 15 mins. We took the room and crashed out. Kim was feeling pretty rough by this point, quite achy with sore throat and mouth ulchers brought on by the malarone (i had them too). She stayed in bed and i headed out for strepsils, bonjela and pizza. Takeaway, mediction and Home Alone 2 the order of the day apparently.

Earlier that evening we had booked flights to Laos as we didn't have much time and horror stories of 40h seated bus journeys into Laos through terrible roads in the wet season had put us off the bus. Again not the budget travel we had planned but if we stay cheaply in Laos and northern thailand we should still remain within the budget we set ourselves before we left England.

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