Halong Bay

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March 21st 2006

Published: April 7th 2006

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LeighSwenson

Floating houses2

I thought it looked awesome with the limestone karst in the background.

Ahhh, beautiful Halong bay. I was afraid we wouldn’t see any of it through the fog but it cleared a bit and although it was still overcast the scenery is, none the less, impressive. Spectacular even.

GETTING THERE

The actual trip was fine and it only takes a few hours. The only problem was the Hanoi Factor. This is the name I’m giving to anything and everything that doesn’t go quite right in Hanoi. And - for us at least - a lot seems to not go quite right in Hanoi. I’m going to blame it on some evil curse or something. Really, in keeping with the tradition of my loathing of Hanoi the vendetta must continue.

Anyway the only problem - which was little more than an irritation really - was being told the night before that a taxi would pick us up at 8am and then having an urgent sounding knock wake us at 7:15am to say the cab was there and we had to go. We raced around like hens with our heads cut off and dashed down stairs, got the cab to the tour office, then proceeded to wait for close to an

Boarding

Jim, behind the herd,getting on the boat.

hour for the bus.

You kind of get the feeling that nothing is too organized in Vietnam - that’s reasonably true for South East Asia on a whole actually - but then everything more or less works out in the end. This underlies almost everything in Asia - organized chaos at its finest.

OUR FIRST ORGANISED TOUR TRIP

Finally, I get to be a part of one of those notorious, large herds of tourists that spoil it for everyone else!!! Yay!!! Well, I hate to say it but it was pretty good. After being on the road for 2months (3 if you include Australia’s east coast) doing everything independently, working it all out on our own and especially after the hectic pace of our stint in Vietnam - South to North in 3 weeks flat - it was very nice to kick back and not have to worry about anything. ANYTHING!

Mindless, Brainless travel at its best. Need a boat to tour through the bay? Done. Need something to do tomorrow? Already organized. What about somewhere to sleep? Sorted. How about where to eat? Check. How about what to eat? Checkmate. The only choice we

Boatman

yep, it's a man,it's a boat, he's a man in a boat. He is the boatman.

had to make was what we’d like to drink and it was the only extra cost to the tour. Now, I am not usually a fan of the organized tour and I head for the hills when I see one coming, but if you’re feeling a little travel weary or just want to see Halong Bay as cheaply and easily as possible then I would go so far as to recommend it, even if you start out on the tour and then stay a little longer to do some of the things you'd like to independently.

The only real down side was that the food wasn't that flash - but not awful either - and you just ate what you were given. I would also recommend if you are thinking of doing a tour to steer clear of the 1 and 2 day ones and go for the 3 day. In my opinion the 1 day is a waste of time since you sit on a bus for a few hours, cruise the bay for a few hours, see 2 caves then get a bus back to Hanoi again that afternoon. The 2 day means you stay a night

Peguin Bin

Now, I'm not complaining - I'm just happy they have bins (which can be hard to find in Asia) but what the hell do pengiuns have to do with caves? Islands? Anything in Asia???? I think Seaworld somewhere was redecorating and they got donated. That is the only explaination i can think of...

then after a short cruise you get the bus back to Hanoi the next morning, so that kind of sucks as well since the 2nd day on the 3 day tour is the best (this was the general consensus of the group as a whole). The reason is that you get to do the most stuff that is fun then and it is the only full day you get. Anyway, it all went something like this:

Day 1: Bus to Halong Bay, have lunch and board the boat. Cruise around Halong Bay through the amazing limestone karsts that make up the complicated mass of islands - some 2000 of them, I believe - and then dock at an island and go through the 2 caves there. Of course there are many boats doing this schedule so be prepared for lots and lots and lots of tourists clammering all over the place, taking photo's and listening intently to the guide who shows you the different rocks that look like an elephant, a dragon, a forest, a nipple, the Virgin Mary, a walrus riding a bicycle while playing with a yo-yo and wearing a party hat... Ok, I'm making up the

Halong Bay1

It was cold and misty which leant it a mystery. It was great, but I can imagine it would feel very different on a warm, sunny day.

Virgin Mary and the Walrus thing, but I think the guide was making up the rest. So, you look at the rock and smile attentively and nod knowingly. But you don't actually see in the rock what he says you should be able to see. Actually I could see the nipple. I have added a photo of it, can you see it?

After the cave thing is over you reboard the boat and then depending on whether you chose to sleep on the boat or on land you either stay on or get off at Catba Island. Actually, it doesn't only depend on what you chose, because we chose to sleep on the boat but I guess they stuffed up and made the wrong booking so we had to be content with the island. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, which I'll tell you about shortly but first I need to add that whenever anybody stuffs up anything for you while in Asia (be it reservations, bookings, a meal order, whatever) it is ALWAYS your fault.

Side Note on it Being Always Your Fault

Just remember that and don't worry that you get the

Cave at Halong

This is the coolest cave I've been in so far.

blame because it won't change anything anyway so it doesn't really matter. I don't think " Sorry, we seem to have made a mix up." exists in the vocabulary here. What they will say however is "I'm sorry, you didn't make the booking." (or reservation, food order, whatever). Continuing the conversation by saying "Yes I did. I did make the booking. On Monday." (and you know you bloody well did too) is an exercise in comedic futility. You will be met with a stubborn "No you didn't." and if you say "Yes. I did." Well, I'm sure you get the idea. It becomes an ongoing 'No you didn't-yes I did-no you didn't-yes I did-no you didn't' circle. And you'll realise somewhere along the line that you sound like a 5yr old and have about as much change of getting your way. There is no apology, you're stuck with whatever you got. Get used to it. Apologies are over-rated anyway. Next.

Back To The Tour and Our Stow Away Story

As I was saying, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, sleeping on the island. Getting off at Catba afforded us the opportunity of free time to

Nipple

Now that I have your attention...The funniest rock formation story I have ever heard involved a princess, or goddess or something leaving the cave and leaving her nipple behind to nurture who knows what. Can you see the nipple?

do whatever and we chose to take a walk to the beach where we had great fun attempting the challenge of taking the board walk around the cliff - see the picture for why it was a challenge. I'm not being sarcastic, by the way. It really was a good laugh! We were also able to hang out with the other landlubbers and go to a bar a chat and play pool and all that. We had a large room with an ocean view and a hot shower as well, which is good because it was surprisingly chilly. The next morning we took a bus and met up with those who'd stayed onboard. It was then that we found out some other reasons why it had been a good thing to stay on the island, namely, there were a couple of unwelcomed and overly bold stow aways on board.

When I asked a guy how it had been on the boat overnight he said in a rather derisive tone "Well, my tour agent told me that sleeping on the boat would be a 'most magical experience'." I could tell by his tone that he did not share this viewpoint.

Cave2

This cave was cool to but not as spectacular as the other.

Trying to add a little humour (but not suceeding entirely) I asked "And what was the most magical moment for you?"

" Well, I'd have to say it was when the big rat chased down the giant cockroach, caught it and started eating it and then the bigger rat came and kicked the other rats ass and finished off the cockroach." He replied.

"Oh" I said, "That's pretty magical, alright."

My feeble smile was met by none so I turned to find someone else to talk to. I found he was not the only one with a rats tale (excuse the pun). One girl woke up to one on her pillow, right beside her head. She couldn't really sleep much after that...

Now, saddened as I was to hear of this rather unpleasant event, I am ashamed to admit, I was vaguely pleased to hear it because it reinforced that our sleeping arrangement bungle was a blessing in disguise. You see, I had initially been quite dissapointed and a tad annoyed by the bungle. There you have it. I am officially awful.

Day 2: Shortly after I discovered - to my surprise - that I

Jim1

On the top deck during misty day 1.

am officially awful we got off the bus and went for a trek which was excellent and nobody cared too much about the rats anymore. It took about 2hours and was much more adventurous than I'd expected with lots of challenging rocky outcrops to negotiate and slippery slopes to traverse. One girl screamed and back peddled so violently at one point she nearly bowled a couple over. The cause of her terror was a small goat - see picture. I've never understood why some girls get so scared of animals that can't really hurt you. Snakes, spiders, lions sure. Even rats, I guess, if they are on your pillow. But a little goat? It is a girl of a particular persuasion that gets scared by small goats. I am not of that persuasion, but I'll go as so far as to say that it's little bleat was startling. But not terrifying. She was a nice girl though and while most of the group laughed at her, I'm sure we all felt acceptibly bad about it afterwards.

When we were done the trek we had lunch and then reboarded the boat and cruised though the karsts. The mist had thinned

Leigh1

On the top deck during misty day 1. AS they say here: Same same but different...

and all but disappeared so we were afforded a much better view. Next we spent an hour or 2 kayaking. This was a definite highlight. I kicked myself that I didn't bring my camera in its waterproof housing. The limestone cliffs seem much larger when you are in such a small craft and so close to them. Our guide took us through a hole in one of the Karsts that can only be accessed when the tide is low enough and this took us to a beautiful lagoon, totally hidden and encased in the limestone cliffs. Very "The Beach". Except of course that we were in Vietnam, not Thailand. And we were on an organised tour. You get what I mean though...

When Monkey's Attack

After this we went to Monkey Island. As the name would suggest, it is an island and it has a lot of monkeys on it. They are surprisingly unfriendly monkeys and one tried to attack me. It was very sneaky about it as well. We were staying close to the build, under the awning. I was at the outer edge, actually a couple of feet away from the edge of the building, to

Psycho Monkey

He looked so cute... then he gave me the death stare. I knew I was in trouble...

photograph this cute little baby monkey. Another monkey moved up a tree and plonked down on a pipe that ran under the branch and to the awning where I was standing. The pipe was just above my head height. I glimpsed him out of the corner of my eye but he was a fair way off - about 8mts I guess. It didn't seem to be a sinister move. He seemed relaxed and thoroughly content with his piece of fruit so I ignored him for a bit.

Then I decided to take a little snapshot of him, since he was posing quite nicely. I think this might have set him off. Perhaps its what he might call a 'pre-emtive strike'. The best defence is a good offense. That sort of thing. He let the fruit fall absently from his hand and moved slowly and deliberately towards me. The way a warden in a mental hospital might move when he was about to manuveour around a patient and didn't want to arouse them and set them off. Something in his movement and the way he was looking at me aroused my suspicion though and I took a step back. He

Boardwalk1

Around the cliffs at the beach at Catba Island. Can't see why it is a challenge yet, eh?

sped up a bit and so did I taking another quick step back. Then before I could blink he broke out into a psychotic gallop towards me and I my life flashed before me and I wondered why, oh why, had I not paid the extra for a rabies shot. I started shrieking and scrambling backwards, knocking into a few people and thus starting a mass panic, where most of the girls - and I swear some of the boys too - screamed and back peddled as well. The monkey glared at us rather contemptuously and, seeming rather pleased with the reaction in general, sauntered off back to his branch. Oh, Jim got chased as well, but it didn't insite such a fuss, being the 2nd attack. Jim got some excellent video footage.

Alright, my life didn't flash before me. I'm being melodramatic. I was scared though and got quite a fright and couldn't help thinking it was karma after laughing at the goat girl. The monkey probably wasn't relaxed or content. He most likely wasn't psychotic, full of contempt or pleased. I doubt he was even sauntering. He is simply a wild animal doing what wild animals do.

Boardwalk2

Now you can start to see why it was a challenge...

I am lending him human traits (there's a name for that isn't there?) to make the story better.

I do believe he was cunning though...all monkeys are.

After my near death experience on Monkey Island we went back to Catba and did pretty much the same as the night before.

Day 3: Get up, pack, have breakfast and its back to the boat, we went by several floating villages and stopped at a small fish farm. We got back to the mainland, had lunch and then got the bus back to Hanoi, arriving around 5pm.

So, as you can see, if you cut out the full day in the middle it wouldn't be much of a trip so this is why I recommend nothing shorter. It only cost about $35 and that included everything, which was more cost effective than making our own arrangements. We met some good people, had a laugh, enjoyed activities like trekking and kayaking, saw the world heritage listed Halong Bay (which is indeed very beautiful) and caves and much fun was had, more or less, by all. Just don't sleep the night on the boat...

BACK IN HANOI

Not

Boardwalk3

Since there were no signs we thought it might get better...but it got worse. We turned back at this point...

dwelling on this as you all know my feelings about it. Suffice to say that I took a long, solitary and contemplative walk around the circumference of Hoan Kiem Lake on our last late afternoon in Vietnam. I made a silent truce with Hanoi and will hold some measure of affection for her. The walk was nice. The next morning we flew to Bangkok, having changed our plans to go directly to Laos by bus because of the horror stories we heard from fellow travellers and what I found while researching on the web. A 30hour bus ride from hell is not at all what I wanted to do next.

Some travellers do seem to think that horror bus journey stories are a rite of passage. That you are not a 'Real Traveller' until you have one of your own. Well, I personally think that is complete load of twaddle. If I can avoid journeys like that I will. Call me a wuss, I don't care. So we were able to book onto a 4 day liveaboard dive trip in the Similan Islands (in Thailand) now instead of after Laos as originally planned. We'll be heading on the night

Trek1

The bridges stability was questionable...

train from Bangkok to Surat Thani and then bussing to the other side of the pennisular to take the boat out. Unfortunately the sleepers were fully booked so we have no choice but to take a reclining seat. It's one of those trips I can't avoid...

Looking forward to the diving and the tropical heat. Will be back in touch when we return to dry land. Til next time...

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