Drinking in the bay

---

With Jez gone, it was time to leave Hanoi on my own, so I booked onto a trip to nearby Halong Bay, famed for its spectacular grottos and dramatic rocky islands. Dozens of travel agencies in Hanoi book 2 or 3 day cruises, so I opted for a 3 day cruise where I'd spend 1 night on the boat and 1 on Cat Ba Island, the largest island in the bay and partly covered by the Cat Ba National Park.

The weather wasn't great as we arrived at Halong City's harbour to board our boat, but there were only 6 of us on the boat (Rance, Shawn and Ali from Canada, and Helen and Anneika from the Netherlands), and lunch was pretty good... although being presented with fresh fish and shrimps when I'd been told not to have seafood was torture! The afternoon's cruising took us to two of the area's best grottos... Hang Dau Go and Hang Thien Cung, both on Dau Go Island. The first is a series of large chambers, with limestone formations in all sorts of weird shapes... although I think our guide could see more than we could. His dragon wasn't very convincing, and his Romeo and Juliet on a balcony just looked like someone giving the V sign... I guess you had to use your imagination! To add drama, the shapes are illuminated in different colours, which for me made it feel ever so slightly tacky... that and the hordes of tourists streaming through. This was a package tour and didn't we know it! A tip for anyone booking this - go for the cheapest option you can find, as pretty much everyone does the same thing anyway! The second cave, known as the Celestial Palace Grotto, has more subdued lighting, less suggestive shapes and far fewer tourists, and is all the more intriguing for it... and unusually, although it sits right next to Hang Dau Go, was only discovered in the 1990s.

After we'd seen the grottos, we got back on the boat and cruised on further into the islets. We moored and took to the water in kayaks, paddling ourselves around a small inlet with some caves, a floating village and lots of big junks which threatened to sink us if their captains weren't paying attention... and in the fading light we weren't that easy to see! The floating village is a curious little thing... about 20 rafts with wooden huts on top, some lit with electricity and all reached by small, round, reed-bottomed boats. Just as the last bit of light went, we got back on the boat for dinner, and discovering it was Rance's birthday (I won't say what age!), got out the cards and promptly sank a few bottles of vodka and several beers. So much for the no-alcohol rule!

Lacking sleep and feeling a little hungover, we left the boat the following morning at Cat Ba Island... Rance being only on a 2-day tour stayed on to go back to Hanoi. We boarded a bus with all the other tourists doing the same tour as us, and were then driven to Cat Ba National Park, where we were given an hour to walk up to Ngu Lam peak, a 200m rock reached via a rocky, steep path. There must have been about 50 people at the top when we were there, so the purpose of trekking (i.e. escaping the crowds to find peace and quiet in the jungle) was somewhat lost, but nevertheless it gave us a chance to appreciate the stunning landscape from above... layer after layer of steep, rounded hills, all densely covered with thick jungle. The afternoon was spent in Cat Ba town, the largest settlement on the island and something of a work-in-progress... new hotels are springing up and I could see it becoming quite a big place in 5 or 10 years' time. I went for a walk along the bay, admiring another floating village and walking onto a beach for the first time in 3 months - so nice to see the sea again! We spent the evening playing fussball, our guide jumping up and down and shrieking like a girl everytime his team scored... he didn't last long. Free face paints and more importantly free vodka or rum before 8pm made it a good night, and thankfully we spent the whole next day travelling back to Hanoi which gave us plenty of opportunity to catch up on lost sleep.

---

Photos

Photo 12
Limestone formations inside Hang Dau Go

Photo 18
A dragon (or 'long') guides our junk forward

Photo 19
Looking down from the rickety tower at Ngu Lam Peak

Photo 10
Boats and the floating village at Cat Ba Town

Comments

[Rob]

Incredible trip
Jonathan, I just spent the past hour reading through your blog and looking at your pictures. Looks like it has been quite a trip so far. Your camera skills definitely improved since Africa. Best of luck on your future endeavors.

[SmithyWorldWide]

Thanks Rob... it continues to be an incredible trip... here's hoping the last 5 months are as good as the first 7!

[Becky]

Amazing View!
This is an amazing photo! Did you take this from atop that one store that's there? i too visited this floating village, what an experience!

[SmithyWorldWide]

Thanks Becky. I took it from just off the main road... it curves up and around the headland, then you can walk along an elevated path which looks down onto the bay.