Author: Rach

Photos: Rach (unless specified)

Halong Bay – the jewel in Vietnam’s (albeit hypothetical) crown. This was going to be our last contestant for a wonder of the world of our entire backpacking trip, so we were full of high hopes for great weather and a well delivered tour experience. We had booked a 2 night stay on a modest boat with Legacy cruises; because a lot of people day trip in Halong, getting further out into the landscape by staying overnight on the water held the promise of fewer tourists and more incredible views. We were ready!

14 April

We were picked up at 9am and transferred by coach to Halong, around 2-3hrs east of Hanoi. The highway and countryside driving didn’t offer too much to impress, except for the moment we suddenly saw the islands in the distance, dotted the whole length of the highway, almost like they had been sketched in charcoal.

I’m not sure we were prepared for how big Halong Bay is. There are 1,969 islands, there or there abouts – it’s not an entirely precise number; rather it was chosen in commemoration of the year President Ho Chi Minh died. These islands are limestone karsts, formed through the changing conditions and environments over a period of around 20 million years. Geologists believed Halong Bay used to be the border between north and south Asian continents, and a lot of the islands are still connected under the sea. Quite something! Our cruise was going to take us through Halong and out the other side to Lan Ha Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay to the east.

After a 15 minute or so wait at the busy dock we boarded a small transfer boat towards our home for the next 2 nights, the ‘hung duc!’ and then checked into our surprisingly spacious cabin. Not bad!

The first order of the day was lunch, and we all took our specified seats in the dining room, Westerners on one table with 2 Vietnamese people and all the Chinese on the other (more on that later). We were given a small plate each, more like side plates if anything, and then one small plate of chips and one small plate of cucumber salad came out, for us to share between 6. The group all looked around a bit nervously at each other. Hmmmm. Our minds were turning to whether we had brought any snacks with us, thinking that karma was coming around now from our Amazon trip where we were almost fed too much! Luckily, a procession of plates kept coming and we realised that things just come out when they are ready. Cooked chicken, shrimps, spring rolls, steamed Pak Choi and then finally, and somewhat nonsensically being at the end, a mound of boiled rice. We were going to be fine!

As we munched away we got our first experience of sailing in this beautiful place. A whole fleet of boats of different shapes and sizes were chugging out alongside each other, making us feel a little like we were back in the days of Captain Cook, mounting an expedition of ships to explore new waters and lands.

Grey skies abounded but the clouds shrouding some of the distant views only added to the mystery of it really, us willing the boat forward to see what would reveal itself behind this karst and the next and the next. We even managed to see a few black kites, or so we think!

Our first stop was the small but vertically shaped Ti-top island, named for a Russian war hero & friend of Ho Chi Minh’s with the same name.

Our guide Ken had given us the option to change the itinerary and go to a different island on account of the number of tourists on the water today (it was a bank holiday weekend and in truth he was right that the port and the harbour were rammed), but Rach rather emphatically insisted we still go to Ti-top as it is here that you can climb up some 420ish steps and get a great view of Halong Bay. Rach wouldn’t want to miss that! We landed at the island, and although it was busy, it was by no means ridiculous and we were able to get to the top fairly easily. Once up there the views were just fabulous. The sun had come out and the water was glistening around the edges of the karsts, boats bobbing in the bay, and more islands as far as the eye could see.

Sounds and looks blissful right? The view may have been, but the experience of being up there was considerably less so. The heaving crowd of people were all vying for the perfect spot to capture this lovely vista, and its fair to say the majority of them, Chinese tourists, were more insistent in their photography. Rach had to get her elbows out. We both periodically received taps on the shoulder and rapid arm gestures insisting we move, to which one or the other would reply ‘I was here first’ (Ged may have followed that with something a little stronger at one point) and remained rooted to the spot. Rach imagined what it would be like to sit up here in this little bandstand-like building with no loud voices or pushing bodies, perhaps with a couple of tables lit by candlelight to enjoy a nice bottle of chilled wine. Heaven indeed, but it seems that the boom of tourism, rather than the appreciation of nature, is king in Halong today.

We had around one hour on the island so when we returned down the steep steps we cleverly stocked up on drinks. We’d spotted that the bar on the boat was charging $2.50 for a can of beer, when we’d been buying these back in Hanoi for no more than 15,000 VND (about 50p!) and they were even charging for water on the boat. We were not going to be ripped off, so we had taken our two empty Riutbag crushes with us and stocked up on 4.5 litres of water and a few cheap beers and cokes for about £4 total. Winner.

After Ti-top we headed straight for Lan Ha Bay, considerably quieter, for some kayaking. We were first in the line and as we boarded our kayak Ken explained which direction we should go in. “Don’t go left, that’s China. Don’t go straight, that’s Hong Kong. You go right.” It seems the tour guides here are not so fond of the Chinese either. Needless to say we took his advice and being first out we took the chance to pull off into the distance quite quickly, and we were far out before we knew it, well away from the group behind us and felt like we had a little corner of Halong all to ourselves. Rach had left her camera on the boat for fear of getting it wet, so we enjoyed taking in the surroundings fully in the hour or so we spent on the water.

Arriving back on the boat by 5pm gave us just enough time to clean up ready for dinner. As we came upstairs the lights were fading in the bay and we were anchored up in a sea of other bobbing ships, lights twinkling in the first dark of night. Very pretty!

While we were waiting for dinner we had a quick lesson in how to make fresh spring rolls (aka the unfried kind). Biggest lesson learned? Don’t overfill them!

Then the light really had left us and was time for dinner. We were segregated by table again, which Ken had quietly explained earlier was for our better enjoyment of our trip, given how loud your typical Chinese tourist is. Multiply this by 10 and you have a wall of noise! The Chinese group were not fans of this segregation though and wanted to make friends with us, periodically standing up and saying ‘cheers’ to our table, beer cans in the air. We were prepared to have a nice quiet night but the Chinese group had taken advantage of the all your can drink menu for $15. Boxes(!) and boxes of cans were being brought to their table, and they wanted to share. Before we knew it we’d each been handed 2 cans and were up on the top deck with them, beginning a card game. At first we thought they wanted to play poker, but they had a much more simple game in mind, designed to help maximise their all you can drink bar tab (they had 3 boxes of beers and each one contained 48 cans – you do the maths!) To their delight we agreed to join, along with 2 kiwis, Reece and Stacey, who were on holiday with their 3 kids. The game that ensued was a simple ‘draw from the pile’ and whoever’s card was lowest had to drink at least 1/3 of a can. Like young children who had just been given a new toy, each hand was as exciting as the previous, with the Chinese shouting ‘come on come on’ at the end of each round, and everyone counting down ‘3, 2, 1’ before simultaneously revealing our cards to loud roars of ‘woahhhhhh’, belly-aching laughter and linking arms while taking our forfeit swigs of beers. After complaining about the loudness of Chinese tourists in Halong yesterday, we’d turned into them – Ken came up to tell us to be quiet at 10.30pm!

We had a great laugh with the group, and towards the end of the evening when the beers were subsiding we tried to learn their names. The guy who spoke pretty good English was known as DK, and his friends were actually colleagues (except for his girlfriend who was with them). They were away for the weekend while they were on business in Vietnam with the ‘boss man’, who was just as drunk as the rest of them! A few Chinese names we could hardly pronounce or remember, except for one guy who seemed to be known as ‘Yoda’ and the most enthusiastic drinker of them all ‘Geoff’, who was desperately happy to have made friends with us and to be sharing around the beers. When we introduced ourselves, Geoff hilariously told Stacey that her name in Mandarin means ‘waiting to die’ – there was nothing for it then than to try to finish the beers! We could tell the Chinese were wondering how we were still going at 11pm, having been downing beers for several hours, and DK explained that most of the beer in China is around 2-3%. Which we guess is why they didn’t worry too much about polishing off 3 boxes! They were quite worse for wear though and the next morning many were missing from breakfast. What a fantastic yet unexpected night courtesy of our Chinese shipmates!

15 April

As we were the only people doing the 2 night trip we had a different itinerary today compared to Stacey, Reece, the Chinese crew and the rest of the group, so we were picked up on our own at 8am and taken back to Ti-top island.

Wait, we were back here again?! We sat on the boat for a while with the captain and first mate who didn’t speak any English, wondering what on Earth was going on. We assumed we were probably here to pick up some other people. After a bit of google translate we discovered we were supposed to be joining another boat, and eventually got off and walked along the dock to find it moored there with another tour group on it. We were seated with 2 Americans, Chad and Suzzie from Texas, and sailed towards our first stop of the day, Dong Tien or ‘Fairy lake dark cave’.

According to popular legend, it is said that the lake inside the cave surrounded by limestone mountains used to be the place where fairies gathered for bathing and sleeping. Climbing through several small tunnels took us to the middle chamber, revealing the lake and the sparkling limestone stalactites which have given this its legend and that make it so unusual. Also in the cave is a curious stalactite shaped a bit like two sleeping lions. Apparently the cave used to be used for weddings by local fisherman, so it is now said that touching the lions together would herald marriage. Of course our tour guide surveyed the group to see who was not yet married, and Ged and I got picked to (unsuccessfully) test the theory much to everyone’s amusement.

Our guide had said a number of other things before we left the boat, including that we would hear music. Whatever could he have meant? We later discovered the most unbelievable set of percussion instruments – a series of hollow stalagmites which when hit each produced a different pitched, resonant Tom-Tom sound. Amazing!

After, we had another opportunity to do kayaking again, and a bit more confident this time Rach took her camera and snapped away as we skirted around karsts and caves.

It was so relaxing being on the water again.

Once back on board we were served lunch, cooked by the captain who took great delight in presenting his dishes to the tables. We did a double take when he brought over a plate of ‘monkey’ and a plate of ‘shark’ but we quickly worked out that he was of course kidding. After lunch we had some downtime while we sailed towards the Halong Pearl Farm. We largely spent it chatting to Chad and Suzzie, comparing the differences in lifestyle that come with living in suburban Texas vs suburban Warwickshire. Chad was particularly enthralled by Rach’s tales of her village committee goings-on, and the whimsicalness of village life. We’re sure they felt she painted some ‘quintessentially English’ picture of countryside life for them (afternoon tea at the village hall, welly wanging on the green etc), all true, but probably not representative of what living in England is like for the most part, but they found it very entertaining.

As we sailed into the dock at the pearl farm we fully understood how little the Vietnamese seem to worry about traffic on the water too, as well as land. While we sailed into the dock straight on, another boat was headed into the exact same spot, coming in at a 45 degree angle to our right. We quickly realised that it was highly unlikely either boat was going to get out of the way of the other in time. We all stood on top deck, clutching the handrails, watching as in seeming slow motion the competing boat tried to cut in front of us while our crew shouted something that must have resembled ‘brake’ to our captain. We slowed more than we expected, but it was still not enough. As the other boat straightened out in front we caught the edge of it at the back. Bang! We’d practically ripped off the rear docking balcony of the boat. No-one really batted an eyelid though!

After our dramatic entrance we disembarked the boat and were taken on a brief tour of the pearl farm.

Natural pearls have been found in Vietnam for over 1,000 years and were in demand across the world. Today natural pearls are pretty rare, and so the pearls produced in Halong Bay are cultivated using a clever technique developed in 1893 in Japan, which is essentially involves impregnating a living oyster with some live membrane and a tiny plastic ball, which the pearl then grows around.

A community of around 1,600 people live on floating houses in Ha Long Bay, sustaining themselves largely through either fishing or pearl farming. It was a big operation.

We sailed back through the grey skies, eventually back to Ti-top to be transferred back to our original boat around 4.15pm, with a new group on board.

They were on yesterday’s itinerary, so we had a few hours to ourselves on the top deck’s sun loungers (although the sun was decidedly absent), taking in the views and catching up on some blog writing. Certainly one of the most relaxing and picturesque blog-writing spots we’ve had so far.

Dinner was served about 7.30 and we polished off the last few beers from yesterday’s shenanigans, which we’d stored in the room. We were definitely going to have that early night tonight! And what a lovely sky to welcome it in, as the last shimmer of sun skirted across the water.

16 April

We were up early again on our final morning in Halong to visit Splendid Grotto or ‘surprising cave’, nestled in a lovely bay, even on a dreary day.

This huge cave was used by fishermen and the French for fresh water; one of the most magical spots we could imagine to go grab a drink! The cave has an unusual ceiling that looks just like an upside down sandy beach, caused by the ocean waves eroding the rock as it flooded.

It opened for tourism in 1998 but the effects of this are easy to see already. The place was heaving, even at 8am, and regretfully the rock has become damaged by mould caused by the spotlights which are almost permanently on.

The outside doesn’t give away anything of the cave’s deep bowels and soaring height, which is perhaps the reason for its naming of ‘surprising cave’, or it could be the other odd shapes found in the stalactites.

After around 1hr of exploring and photography experimentation (it’s really hard to take good photos in this environment) we were back on the boat and sailing through Halong Bay back towards the harbour. It felt like our time had gone so quickly, so we were really glad we had plumped for the 2 night trip rather than the 1. We checked out and then went to the top deck to soak up the last of the views. The ominous grey clouds that had followed us the whole cruise finally opened up – as Jesus, our G Adventures tour guide in Peru would say, the sky was crying because we were leaving. In truth, it has in fact rained the day we left at most places we have visited on this trip. But we’re not superstitious.

Back downstairs in the dry we had our final supper (lunch!) around 11am and before we knew it were back on dry land waiting for our coach back to Hanoi. We were going to have one more night here, to finish off exploring this interesting city before catching a flight to our next Vietnamese destination, royal Hue. Coming soon!