All I Want Is a Photograph
Trip Start
Dec 04, 2005
1
30
45
Trip End
Jun 16, 2006
Halong Bay,
Vietnam
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Day 1: We had to be at the tour guide office at 6AM. We then met our fellow three-day kayakers, Andy and Jim (two more Canadians, who are currently living in Japan and teaching English)
A Beautiful Halong Vista (Day 1)
. The funny thing about the situation was that the evening before we stopped by the tour office to make sure everything was set and the woman who had booked our trip told us there were two single guys on our trip with us and that they were really nice and we were going to have a great time, wink wink. Hilarious. She was so sweet and totally cute trying to work her matchmaking magic. So our group was Andy, Jim, our guide Kien, Missy, and me. And I have to say, it was a blast! So we took a bus to Hai Phong where we hydrofoiled to Cat Ba. This took about three and a half hours. Then we got on a sort of rickety old, slow boat to the tour company's base camp. Here we had our first of many great meals. Honestly, the food was great the whole time and we were out in the middle of the bay! The base camp is great. As Andy liked to tell all the other kayakers we met during our three days (all through the same company but on different tours), Handspan is the only company that is allowed to stay on an island in Halong Bay's national park. We stayed in little beach bungalows and had a common dining area and a place to have a campfire at night. There was even a toilet and hot shower (which we actually used after day 2 because it was quite chilly). After our yummy lunch we got in our kayaks for the first time and spent a few hours paddling around. We stopped off on another beach for a bit and then paddled around just taking time to absorb all the beauty that is Halong Bay (see photos for our inadequate capturing of the landscape)
Base Camp
. Funny story, which I will now relay in dialogue form, because I am not sure how else to do it.Kien (our guide): Hey Missy and Jessie! Do you like sea turtles?
Missy and Jessie (in unison): Yes! We love them. Can you see them here?
Kien: I see one just over there.
Jessie: Really? Where?
Kien: Just over there, you can probably take a photo.
Missy: Really? Wait, where?
Kien: Over there (pointing behind us).
Andy and Jim: Laughing hysterically...
Missy and Jessie: What? (We both turn around and see the island that he is pointing at looks quite a bit like a turtle) Funny guys...really funny! (And it was, but we didn't live it down for the next two days.)
Still a fabulous first day, even without the sea turtles. (M: I concur that it was an excellent first day
Caving in a Kayak (Day 2)
. Andy and Jim are so great, very laid back and really into being on the water also. So it made for some excellent times. Plus, Kien's command of the English language included sarcasm and slang, so that was a complete bonus for us. Lots of laughs!)Day 2: We had a great breakfast of rice pancakes (YUM! M: Double YUM!!!), eggs, and bananas. We then hopped in our kayaks for another fun-filled day of kayaking in perfectly cool and overcast weather (yep, happy for that because then I didn't get sunburned). We spent a couple of hours paddling around, stopping off at a beach where we found so many cool shells. Then we saw a small fish farm. There are people who actually live out in Halong Bay on these floating houses, tending to their fish farms. They have really scary dogs who protect their farms and bark like crazy when anyone comes near. We were all fairly certain this one particularly vicious-looking dog was going to jump onto Andy and Jim's kayak as they paddled past (luckily he seemed content to just bear his teeth and growl loudly). We then lunched on a boat (another great meal M: that included fried tofu, sauteed greens with garlic, rice, fried fish and fresh cucumbers) and then were dropped off in another area of Halong Bay to go explore some caves and lagoons. We had a minor incident in one of the caves as we got a bit stuck on a rock. Hey, give me a break, it was impossible to see with our itty bitty flashlight and I was protecting our heads by staying to the right
Deluxe Floating House
. Plus, Kien told me to! (M: No, it's true. Kien said, stay right, Jessie was steering and I was holding the inadequate flashlight. And suddenly, we were clearly stuck. But some funky maneuvering got us unstuck before Jim and Andy hit us!) The lagoons were beautiful, completely serene and appeared to be untouched (there were supposedly monkeys around, but we did not get to see them--so disappointing). Before heading back we paddled around a pretty large fishing village (apparently around 400 people live there) complete with a little school for the small friends who are too far away from Cat Ba to go to school there. Back at base camp that evening some new folks had arrived on another tour. We quickly struck up a great conversation with a Canadian couple (who's surprised?), Elliott and Caroline, and we all enjoyed our delicious dinner (M: Which included fish cakes, one of my fav SE Asian treats, and these roasted peanuts that Jessie swore were just like Kettle Corn in their makeup) and a great campfire (I have to add here that Andy did try his best to toast a chocopie, which are comparable to our moonpies in the states, but alas it was not a success). (M: He had been talking about s'mores since arrival and he had us all craving marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers. This is not so possible on a small island off the coast of Viet Nam.) Day 3: On the water around 9, we paddled for a couple of hours into another area of Halong where there were a few large fishing farms and lots of dead fish floating around (totally weird)
Do Not Adjust the Photo, I Am Upside Down
. Our poor guide, Kien, was a bit exhausted (plus he was paddling a double kayak by himself) and so sent us off to paddle a bit on our own. The areas that we were in were amazing, but then again there were not any parts of Halong Bay that didn't deliver. We returned to base camp for one last sumptuous meal (and met a couple of really interesting guys - one doing HIV/AIDS policy work in Cambodia for UNDP and the other from the UK doing humanitarian relief work). So many interesting people to talk to and get to know and never enough time. (M: Which is one of the best things about traveling. Especially when you can relink with them at the next location (Hanoi, for example).)It was a great trip and really what made arriving back in Hanoi less disappointing was the fact that it had cooled off considerably and that we knew we were going to get to see Hung again...so we gleckel on.
