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Published: August 9th 2007
We hadn't seen the ocean in weeks, and combined with the full on city experience Hanoi had given us it was time to get on a boat, grab some beers and hit up Halong Bay.
Ha Long means 'where the dragon descends into the sea' (and yes that is taken straight out of my L.P. guide book p.851) and is made up of over 3000 limestone islands which are supposed to represent what's left of the dragons tail. We had signed on for a $43 three day two nite tour 'promising' kayaking, food, accommodation, trekking, and English speaking guides. Sound too good to be true? It was, but for that price who really cares!
The first day was spent cruising the bay checking out the floating villages and limestone caves in the area. One cave we went into even had a paved walkway and lighting inside! U gotta love raw nature. Spent the evening on Cat Ba Island (the biggest island in the area and one of a handful you can land on) chatting to a Dutch guy who had found a way to reduce the temperature required for making tarmac from 170 degrees to 80 degrees, and was
about to sell his patented technology to the American government for millions. Apparently good for the environment too. U meet all sorts when traveling...
Next day did a jungle trek (nice views but hot as) with a 'guide' who spoke three words of English (up, down, stop) before we got back on the boat for what turned out to be the best part of the trip. Spent the afternoon boozing and bombing from the top of the boat (well at least I did) before watching the sun set over the isles (awesome!). Had an interesting experience when in the water too. Was swimming when a girl next to me suddenly screamed 'Ahhh its got my hand, ahhh its got my leg!'. Turned out she had been stung by a jellyfish but ice and a couple of beers soon calmed her down. Pretty freaky being in the water when you hear that. Just glad it wasn't a shark or 10m giant squid (probably wouldn't be writing this if it was). We also didn't know the tour included spending time with rodents. The couple in the cabin above were just falling asleep when the resident rat bit the girl's toe and
then proceeded to eat all the food left on their floor. Now that's a sign of a true budget backpacker tour!
So you do pay for what you get, and if we did it again would probably spend a little more, but it didn't detract from the beauty of the place. Nice part of the country and pretty accessible from Hanoi. Wanted to explore more but Kako's visa was just about out (15 days) so it was back to Hanoi and onto the nite bus bound for Laos...
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Dave Kitney
non-member comment
Vietnem
Man your photos are amazing. Hope you enjoy the rest of the trip.