Halong Bay: My Love in Vietnam

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Day1

I have been longing to write this blog, guess I have been saving the best for last as it was my last excursion in Vietnam before I go back to the boring city of Hanoi to catch my flight to Bangkok. Wish there was any direct flight straight from Halong as it would be another waste of half a day again in Hanoi Old Quarter, where tourist just flock together for no apparent reason, or may be they are just bound to, unfortunate people like us who wanted to go to Halong or Sapa! However by the look of Halong Bay Wharf area, looks like Hanoi’s dominance would be short lived as lots of big hotels are currently being built alongside the coast, just hope there is also a airport in the future plan.
Anyway, coming back to the point of Halong, as per our arrangement we were picked up from our hotel by our tour agent Heritage Tours around the same time they promised which was around 8 in the morning. However what we didn’t realize that lots of other people were also to be picked up from their hotels, so again lots of time killing in the bus going through the crowded narrow streets in Hanoi.
I must whine again (if I havent done enough in my Hanoi Blog!!) it all looked the same and there was nothing in the whole area and all the hotel stops we been to, its all same old small shops selling generic souvenirs or bags, shoes etc., and amongst them lots of hotels for travellers. Quite a mystery why or how they all came to stay in this area where there was nothing interesting at all!
Finally we were off to our destination when the 18 seater bus was full, luckily the air con worked, so it was not so bad. Vietnam being a socialist country, they just take your passport wherever you go and it was no different in the bus. Had to handover mine along with others, to our tour guide Mr. Lao who wrote down all our details in a paper which he would hand over to the local police!! The journey was about 4 hours, including a unnecessary stopover where they sell paintings, sculptures etc. and fast food on the side. Unfortunately they didn’t get much business from me and my friend, as all we did was, had some fresh fruit juice which was good actually.
Reached Halong Bay wharf around 12.30 pm, and the bus dropped us off at the pier, finally we had a chance to look at our fellow tour mates and socialise a bit amongst ourselves. Interestingly I found so far that lots of tourist from Spain come to Vietnam and it was no different in Halong Bay. Our tourist guide Lao, a nice Vietnamese chap, who told us that he worked in Kuwait so it was easy for us to ask him abt Halal food which were apprehensive that might not be available and we just stick to veggie dishes. At his instruction we all followed him and there was a small boat which took us to our Junk boat for our cruise and night stay.
The boat was quite nice, a small deck area, dining area and a few cabins were on the mid level, some bigger cabins were at the bottom level and there was one big open deck at the top. The bay looked really really nice, and we all enjoyed the view with a welcome drink, non alcoholic off course!
The lunch was served and man it tasted nice, all fresh fish and veggie, freshly cooked with rice, nice meal. After the meal Lao explained to us how our trip would pan out. We opted for a 2 nights in the boat therefore we would come back to the boat from our day activities the next day and those who opted for hotel stay would go straight to Cat Ba Island.
First day we all cruise together. First stop was Amazing Cave, which was truly amazing. It was probably the biggest in all the thousands of caves in Halong Bay. Had to climb about 300 steps to reach the entry point of the cave and it was well worth it. It gave an overview of the bay area. No matter how much you hear/read abt Halong Bay, until you see it, one can not appreciate and fathom its true beauty!
After the cave exploration we did some kayaking, which honestly I had never done before. It was fun, however I did not realize that point in time that I would be blessed with more than I can swallow with similar fun all day next day!
By the time we were finishing off our kayaking, some of our fellow mates had already started jumping off the deck. I read all these blogs about jumping off the top deck, and I too planned and was looking forward to do this. But when the time came, I stood on the edge of the deck looking down at the water and suddenly all my enthusiasm just seemed to be vanished up in the air. My friend just got tired and bored focusing his camera on me as I kept telling him that I would jump but I was not doing that. Finally with all the chanting from other guys, took the leap of faith and jumped off. I must say, I don’t have words to describe it, it was just awesome. The water felt excellent, luke warm and its quite dense in salinity so very east to float.
After all these madness all day it was a calm serene evening lying in the deck chair looking at the sun go down, gradual lightning up of all the other boats in the bay, it was a surreal environment. After dinner tried to do some squid fishing as karaoke was surely not my cup of tea. Although some of the guys had taken the challenge and was having fun. No luck with the fishing I decided to call it a day, as the room aircon was also turned on by then.

Day 2
Woke up really early, had a excellent sleep overnight, although I was wondering if I would need to wear a lifejacket before going to bed, given that one of the boat capsized overnight in the bay about 6-8 months ago!! After breakfast our group was split in two, one group went to Cat Ba Island and some of us took another boat for the day for a day full of kayaking and cave exploration.
There we met another group, among which there was a couple form Lithuania and I got along pretty well with the lady, may be her husband didn’t quite liked it. Spent half day in kayaking which sort of pushed our physical fitness to its absolute end. Saw some amazing caves, pitch black inside, fishing villages, caves with really low overhead clearance for which had to duck inside the kayak otherwise would not pass, all in all very tiring day but well worth it. In the evening came back to our boat for our second overnight stay.

Day 3
Cruised back to harbour with our original group. And Finally made our journey back to Hanoi.

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