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Published: July 11th 2008
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More of Halong Bay
A floating fishing village where we could purchase our lunch. Dear, dear friends,
So much has transpired... so much.
We headed to Halong Bay, Vietnam's bid for Seventh Wonder of the World. Google it, and you may just be able to vote for it. Who knows. Much like ancient Chinese cattle (I imagine at least), our group of tourists were herded onto creaky wooden junks. The junks took us into the thousands of islands making up Halong Bay, where we were amazed by the limestone formations shooting up out of green waters, covered in slightly less explosive greenery than we saw in Krabi. We putted around, sweating beads in the heat, seeing enormous limestone caverns made technicolor by oddly placed neon lights, small floating fishing villages, and a panoply of islands shaped like dragons, dogs, or lions depending on what our tour guide was currently thinking about. Turns out all the stalactites and stalagmites in Heaven's (technicolored) Cave looked like dogs and lions; melting dogs and lions. Once we reached the small bay we would be spending the night in we changed into our swimming gear and began throwing ourselves off the boat into some incredibly warm and salty water. Without a doubt, flipping off the superior junk into
Katie on Halong Bay
Riding the junk in Halong Bay Halong's wonderful water was a highlight of the trip. The next day we landed on a large island in the bay, Cat Ba Island, and climbed the highest peak in the national park which covers most of the island. Somewhat puzzling was the fact that immediately next to the top of the peak was another, higher peak, also part of the National Park. Ah well. Our peak had a creaky, slightly rusty lookout tower which we were compelled to climb to see more of the surrounding peaks and valleys. (Aren't you glad we included that creaky and rusy bit moms?) Literally every surface there was covered in impenetrable looking canopies and foliage. That afternoon we jumped onto a tiny junk to go sea kayaking amid the cliffs. Our guide took us through a small passageway into an isolated bay, accessible only through the two foot tall, ten foot long and wide tunnel through which we entered. When it was time to exit we realized that the tide had risen, and getting out would prove more difficult. One girl in our group couldn't scrunch down in her kayak because it was stuffed with stuffing, and had a hell of a time
Halong Bay Limestone formations
Somewhat like in Krabi, the limestone just shoots up out of nothing in Halong Bay. exiting the lagoon. To take our mind off of all of that we went out for beers after dinner, and I enjoyed a shot of snake infused rice wine. Mmmmmm. Halong bay was one of the more beautiful places I have ever seen, and the moments when we could sit and do nothing as our junk slowly and quietly took us through the islands were supremely relaxing.
We immediately left on a night train for Sapa as soon as we returned from our Halong Bay trip. While we had heard great things about Sapa, nothing prepared us for one of its greatest selling points; situated as it is at maybe 6,000 feet above sea level, Sapa is devoid of the stifling humidity which oppresses you in the rest of Vietnam. The town sits above an enormous valley filled with hill tribe villages. The walls of the valley are bedecked with terraced rice patties and hemp fields, or corn fields clinging to absurdly steep valley walls. As usual, just about everything is green. In our rush to get to Sapa, we ended up purchasing the cheapest rail ticket available in Vietnam, the hard seat. What this translated into was a
From the top of Cat Ba Island
The reward for climbing up a lookout tower on top of a cliff on Cat Ba Island is this view. sleepless night aboard a train with about nine inches of leg room on a bench too small for Katie and I to both sit on normally. Interesting sleeping arrangements abounded on the train; smaller Vietnamese people stretched out under the benches, others laid on the bench with their legs sticking straight up the wall. Suffice it to say, we spent our first day in Sapa sleeping in the cool mountain air. Our second day in Sapa we woke up early and met up with a Black Hmong woman named Lily. She had offered to take us to her family's home in a nearby Black Hmong village, and cook us a traditional meal before showing us around a few more hamlets in the valley. The trip was worth every penny we paid, and more. The meal was simple and delicious; fried fish with salt, fried pork with broth, rice and copious amounts of homemade rice wine. Lily's husband kept pouring us shots of the potent, slightly oily looking moonshine when he wasn't cooking the lunch over a bamboo fire set into the dirt floor of their bamboo house. Lily taught us some invaluable phrases in Black Hmong, like "I will not
Cavernous
Katie in Heaven's Cave in Halong Bay. Dissapointingly, they illuminated the cave with various colored neon lights, giving an incredible limestonecavern an artificial feel. buy from you today thanks, I have no money" (gu chi san yo o cho, gu chi mo tse) which was a lifesaver each time we were surrounded by packs of traditionally garbed hill tribe women trying to sell us their beautiful hand-stitched clothing or silver jewelry. Our third and fourth days in the mountains we went on a trek down along the valley floor, passing by countless vista points, all of which took the breath away. We spent the night with a Tay family in the village of Ban Ho, enjoying the company of our fellow trekkers from Denmark and Brighton Beach in England, as well as more great food and strong moonshine. On the edge of town there was a nice waterfall with a deep, cool pool to swim in. So we did. The second day of our trek we went to swim again, only to realize that the previous night's storm had made parts of the pool too treacherous to enter, so we swam in the calm spots. After hiking straight up one of the valley walls in the mid-day heat we took a bus ride back to Sapa, where we found an incredible present for little
Whole lotta junk
Any junk wishing to dock at this harbor in Halong City simply makes a spot for itself. baby Turi. Another bus and train ride through the night with a group of Spaniards from Zaragosa brought us to Hanoi early this morning. We just purchased tickets to head south, which we will do starting tomorrow.
Wish us luck,
Tucker and Katie
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Andrew from Kerr & Wagstaffe
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Tucker, How are things with you
Hey Tucker, I am simply awed by some of the photos you two have taken. Andrew