Sailing Along on HaLong Bay

I was sailing along on HaLong Bay.......an experience that I had in 2001 and one of the things that I wanted to repeat and, yes, I'd do it again and again. And there aren't that many experiences I would repeat over and over. Machu Picchu is one and the town of Oaxaca is another - but I digress. So let me first tell you a bit about this UNESCO World Heritage sight. The name means Dragon Descending. Legend has it that the bay was formed when a dragon plunged into the sea and whipped his tail from side to side carving out the landscape. And what a landscape it is! Over 2,000 limestone ( or karsts) rise up dramatically from a jade green sea. They were formed over 300 million years ago and stretch for over 600 square miles. Over the years erosion has carved and sculptured them into shapes that resemble swans, kettles, toads, saddles, and monsters to name a few.

I think you have to be on the water to fully appreciate the beauty of this fantastical Suessical landscape seemingly designed by a handful of joking gods. I'm sorry I can't send pictures. The computers here are mostly dial -ups and incredibly slow - if they work at all. I'd suggest you Google HaLong Bay for a look.

I was aboard a 20 passenger (plus crew and a handful of guides) boat for an overnight trip. The room was lovely with a full picture window so I could lounge on my bed and watch the landscape glide by ( yes, life is rough but somebody has to do it). It included a full bath which consisted of a standard commode and sink. The 'shower' was one of those hand held hoses attached to the wall between the other fixtures. No little telephone booth size stall, no piece of flimsy plastic. Nothing. I'd encountered such a set-up in Venice a few years ago and I knew it made one heck of a watery mess. A mental note was made to work around a full shower. To my delight I discovered on the top deck that our 'junk' was outfitted with 3 huge bamboo ribbed sails that were tightly furled as we pulled out of the crowded, noisy, and rather stinky port that smelled of gas and oil from boat engines and fish.

The day was overcast with the sky shades of gray from pearl to charcoal. In the distance it was raining. For me, it all added more mystery to an already dramatic scene. But it was the far horizon view that most captivated and mesmerized me. For miles and miles all I could see were more and more formations towering like the sides of skyscrapers. The first stop was to visit Hang Sung Soc ( means the Grotto of Surprises). It is a cove that leads to a land trail that brings you into an over 135,000 sq. ft. cave full of chambers and the usual assortment of grotesque stalagmites and stalactites. Since I had visited the cave in 2001, I decided to stay on the top deck. I wanted to luxuriate in the peacefulness of the almost empty boat and sink into the scenery that surrounded me. But quiet it was not as 6 or 7 crew members came up to unfurl the huge beautiful ochre colored sails.

As it grew towards dusk we headed into another cove where several other boats had already gathered. More and more boats came and cast their anchors circling around each other like the wagons in a western old western movie. Thus the night was spent in a cozy cove with 20 or so other boats. The only sound being an occasional Karaoke cowboy crooning in the dark.

After breakfast I got into a smaller boat called a 'tender' and left for, well. actually, I had no idea where I was going. We were headed toward a sheer wall of limestone with a very small opening at its base- just enough for our little low boat to glide under. I entered a lagoon and was completely surrounded by stone walls. We glided over to the shore and saw movement in some low branches. This turned out to be greedy, mucho gordo, monkeys who were gorging themselves on bread and bananas that crew members on the tenders were throwing to them.

And speaking of gorging have I mentioned the meals on this overnight cruise? We arrived at noon and were immediately fed lunch. Lunch consisted of 9 courses! I will not go into details about the preparation of each dish but suffice it to know that each was prepared beautifully, deliciously, and never repeated at another meal. This was lunch: shrimp, clams, stuffed crab, spring rolls, whole steamed fish, calamari, cabbage, rice and fruit. Dinner at 7 pm: soup, shrimp, crab( the crew cracked and served it), calamari, fried fish, rice, chicken and veggies, bok choy, and fruit. I guess if you didn't like seafood you would have gone hungry but growing up on the ocean it was heaven to me. The name of the company is Bai Tho cruises: www.baithojunks.vn They have about 9 boats. There are day cruises for a few hours and much more luxurious boats ( and crappier ones)- to each his/or her own.

We entered the harbor about 10 minutes after we finished our lunch- yep another 9 course extravaganza. Our sweet guide. Tien, had stayed with us on the boat. He carried our backpacks to our waiting car and we headed back for our last night in Hanoi.

On to Hue and the HoiAn.
Love, Carolyn

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