Halong Bay

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Part of the reason I wanted to come to Vietnam was to visit Halong Bay. I first saw Halong Bay on an episode of Top Gear which I am sure many of you saw. You really have to go on an organized tour to Halong Bay and this was my first proper 'tourist experience' on this trip of getting on a bus with a number of other people and heading to the destination. While I find it much nicer to walk around and discover places on your own it was nice to be able to chat with people who had already saw alot of Vietnam. There are so many different places people tell you about on your travels to visit but it is obviously impossible to visit them all, this time. One thing I now have is a list of places which people have recommended and I will be sure to pay them a visit in the future.

The tour was organized through APT Travel and the bus to Halong Bay picked me up at 8am. The people on my bus were all really cool and I was sitting with two Americans who had just been to Siem Reap in Cambodia so they were able to recommend to me exactly what to see etc as I will be visiting there next week.

When we arrived at the port you are greeted by hundreds of 'junk' type boats which all head out to the bay for the day or a couple of nights. The guide we had who was really good said about only 60% of them are now being utilized because of the worldwide recession and that in 2006 the boats were operating at full capacity. After climbing on board we headed out on our boat into the bay.

Halong means descending dragon. Local legend has it that long ago, when the Vietnamese were fighting Chinese invaders, the gods sent a family of dragons to help defend the land. This family of dragons began spitting out jewels and jade. These jewels turned into the islands and islets dotting the bay, linking together to form a great wall against the invaders. The people kept their land safe and formed what later became the country of Vietnam. After that, dragons were interested in peaceful sightseeing of the Earth and decided to live here then. The place where Mother Dragon flew down was named Hạ Long. The area has been designated by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage Site.

The bay consists of a dense cluster of 1,969 limestone monolithic islands, each topped with thick jungle vegetation, which rise spectacularly from the ocean.

On the day I went it was a little foggy but the area is renowned for it during this time of year. A number of the islands due to their shapes have been given names as they resemble certain objects, things etc. For example Voi Islet (elephant), Ga Choi Islet (fighting cock), and Mai Nha Islet (roof).

There are also now a number of fishing villages which have cropped up with the influx of the tourists. They basically sell there produce and you can then get the chef on board your ship to cook it for you if you choose. There are also kids who pull up selling fruits and I reckon must be making a tidy sum doing so as they are the best dressed kids I have seen in Vietnam.

After a sail around the islands we traveled to an island which contains a series of caves which were pretty amazing and again many of the formations have been given their own names which are guide pointed out. They were only discovered in 1994 after two fisherman climbed the island to seek shelter from a typhoon.

After getting back on our boat we headed back to the harbour and the long 'close your eyes and hold on' type trip back to Hanoi. Halong Bay is a must trip for anyone visiting Vietnam, but the influx of so many tourists as anywhere is creating its own problems unfortunately. It is a protected site however so I think tourist numbers may be limited in future.

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