Halong Bay and Hanoi

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On the morning of the 15th of February we took a cramped, three-hour long minibus ride to Halong Bay with a mixed group of other Europeans, Canadians and a huge group of Aussies. We had a short break during the journey at a large souvenir warehouse before finally reaching the tourist port. In order to actually get to our boat we had to climb, jump and generally scramble from boat to boat, deck to deck all the while trying not to slip between the boats (there were dozens, if not hundreds of them) and disappear. Having reached our boat intact we set off for our two day tour of the bay.

Now, when we booked the trip at the hostel we promised beautiful scenery, amazing food and plenty of stops for kayaking and swimming as we made our way through the limestone peaks that rise from the water. In fact as soon as I read about Halong Bay during our pre-trip "planning" (I use the term loosely) it had become one of my "must sees". We'd also been told that we were experiencing unusually mild weather for mid-winter. Apparently it's usually hat and scarf weather. Unfortunatley the first day of our boat trip was spoilt somewhat by poor visibility. The mist did add a strange, unearthly quality to the limestone karsts and islands though, so it wasn't all bad.

When we made our first stop of the day we were told that we could either do some kayaking or visit a spectacular cave formation nearby. Having been assured that we could kayak the next day (hopefully with better weather) the group voted for the caves. The caves were, in reality, a little underwhelming. Although I think this had more to do with our guide over-hyping them somewhat. We then resumed the trip to the resort where we would spend the night.

Night had fallen before we reached the resort so we had to negotiate a succession of transfer to smaller boats in the dark, which wasn't easy. Once we were all safely at the resort we settled into our beach-front huts and went for dinner where we were informed that we had to leave at 8 the following morning and that anyone wanting to go kayaking had to be up at six am. Needless to say that after a night of great food, drink and conversation the six am start never materialised!

We left at 8 after breakfast and once more toured around the bay and it's limestone formations. Thankfully visibility was much better than the day before, offering us stunning views. It would have been nicer to spend a bit longer at the resort but they were closing for New Year and we had to ship out early.

We arrived back in Hanoi late that afternoon. As it was New Year's Eve almost everything was closed so we just wandered around before having a BBQ dinner at the hostel and going to watch the fireworks at the lake.

In my last update I forgot to mention going to see the water puppets. One of Hanoi's traditions: the puppeteers are submerged in water and behind a screen and use complex puppets to tell traditional folk stories and legends. It was much better than I'd thought it'd be.

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