Advertisement
Published: September 25th 2005
Edit Blog Post
HaLong Bay
Nice view from the cave One of the main attractions of Hanoi, besides the lovely city itself, are the package tours to Halong Bay leaving every morning from nearly every hotel in town. The morning after I re-united with the girls in the city we climbed into yet another mini-bus and headed toward the bay. The scenery was spectacular. Ciara and I kept nudging each other with excitement as we sped past massive rock formations situated behind lush green rice fields and palm trees. We were ecstatic when we arrived at the docks and jumped aboard one of the large wooded boats. With a small group of only 15 passengers it was cozy and friendly on board. It takes the boat an hour or more to putter on out to the massive rock formations that make HaLong Bay so stunning. We had a leisurely lunch and sunbathed on the top deck of the boat as we watched our boat navigate deeper through the maze of beautiful islands. The evening was almost perfect. We docked at a cave and had a guided tour (erm...okay...so we didn't understand a word our guide was saying) of the giant interior. The boat then pulled into a sheltered little cove-like area
where we were surrounded at all angles by the rocks. A couple of other boats joined ours and we all jumped into the water for a swim. The crew said we could jump off the top roof of the boat. What an adrenaline rush! The water was warm and smooth. And we all had a good laugh watching everyone build up the courage to leap.
We had a nice dinner shortly following a postcard sunset. A couple of guys jumped from their boat onto hours and joined in on the evening socializing. One of them happened to be a guy from Dublin who is headed in the exact same route Northbound as me. Gerry and I exchanged a bit of information after watching an exciting lightening storm from the roof headed our direction.
When the rain finally blew through it was quite exciting. But I was so exhausted I left the party early and hit the sack...although it wasn't as peaceful as I would have liked. I have pretty sharp eyes when it comes to things darting around in the corners of them...and of course...just like on all of the large wooden boats of my imagination..There were RATS!!!! Yes, more
Lunch time!
Mmmm...tofu veggie salad and fish! than one and they seemed to be playing around in the dark corners decks oblivious to all human habitation.
"Fine," I thought. "I can handle rats..I mean..use to beg my mom for a pet rat in elementary school. They aren't in the bedroom...so, no problem." Only, it was a problem when I was very rudely woken up from a deep slumber by what sounded like a PARTY of rats under the bed. Good lord!!! I popped up and instinctively ran upstairs to the sound of people. Gerry had his guitar out and it looked like I had just interrupted a round of Kum Baya or something. I made my roommate Ash come down stairs and inspect the room. Nope...not even a rat hair. The little buggers were like those ghosts kids have under their beds and I felt ridiculous. That didn't stop me from wrapping myself up in my sheets like a mummy so I would be "safe" from any rat bites. Throughout the night I was continually woken up by squeaks, scratching and sound of little gnawing teeth on wood. It was impossible for me to sleep knowing I might wake up to a giant black rat with beady
red eyes sharing my bed. UUUgh!!!
The next morning was even worse...we woke up to what one could describe as a mini typhoon. Pulling out of the protected cove area everyone on board immediacy became aware of the threat it posed on our lives. Our wooden boat bobbed and rolled like a toy in the angry brown water. Suddenly no one felt like breakfast as we slid around at the tables.
We docked at Cat Ba Island only to find mass confusion. The wind was howling and things didn’t look good. We would have to abandon the luxury tour boat and get back to the mainland as soon as possible. This included an hour wait at a hotel until our guides decided it would be safe to take a speed boat back and a long bus ride to a different dock. It wasn't so bad, though. Barring the whiskey swilling Russian tourists planted in between us on the overcrowded van (At 9am...ouch.)...I had a great time taking in the lush landscape of Cat Ba as we drove on through.
Logistics at the spead boat docks were muddled, as expected. We waited another hour in the rain for people to be
shuffled from one boat to another. Our group was last and was forced to stand on outside of the jam-packed boats. While I thought this might be the safest position incase of sinkadge...it proved to be the wettest. People were holding onto the rails and their life jackets for dear life. The lady sitting next to me clutched her husband’s hand with an iron fist and kept making sure the ropes on her life-vest were tied tightly around her. The waves weren't letting down and the water looked menacing.
The 20 minute ride to the mainland seemed like hours. When we finally arrived, the wind sweeping at us walking along the rotting dock almost took me along with it. Fortunately buses were parked right by the water waiting to whisk us back to Hanoi. The bus was quiet in the trip back. Shaken and tired, we slept with crooked necks and strained backs all the way back to the hotels.
Dealing with the hotel staff when we got back deserves a blog in its own right...what a nightmare!! If you are ever Hanoi bound avoid Nam Phuong Hotel at all costs!
We couldn't have asked for a better first day
Inside the cave
Beuatiful lights in the bay..So survey says the trip was well worth all the excitement we met on day two! It was also the last adventure for the 5 of us girls together. By now, Gemma is thinking about leaving Phi Phi for home and the fabulous Irish gals should be just starting their lives in the land down under.
In good weather, HaLong Bay is truly amazing. In bad weather it's just plain exciting. You MUST get yourself there should you ever find yourself in Vietnam.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.067s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 15; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0406s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Liz
non-member comment
Gees oh petes
You're right when you say that for good traveling moments there will always be bad ones, but you write about them so well that in the end, it's all good! Thanks again for keeping us updated.