Halong Bay Heaven – 26th May 2008

Halong Bay Heaven – 26th May 2008

After a very satisfactory week in Hanoi I shouted myself a trip to Halong Bay. I decided that I may never be back in this area again and that I would take advantage of the opportunity to see an area which is a world heritage site that has been designated one of the “seven wonders of the world” (just how many places claim that title I am not sure!)

I had heard very different reports from Anne and Selina who had been there and the Trip Advisor website included stories of people who have been pleased with their experience and others who have been very disappointed so on the “you get what you pay for” principle I decided to go for a mid-price trip of $100 US. This gave me the trip there, two days on a boat with meals and my own cabin. I trooped around a few of the many travel agents and selected one on no more scientific basis than that I liked her and made my booking. As it turned out the first day of the trip was superb and the second a bit disappointing but overall it was well worth going.

Sixteen of us were collected from various hotels and crowded into a van. We set off through the city and then traveled for three hours eastwards down the Red River basin and delta to Halong Bay. A young guide proudly described the intelligence, hard-work and creativity of his people who, having survived 4,000 years of oppression by successive invaders, have during their last 33 years of independence, been rebuilding their nation. It was interesting to hear his very direct descriptions of historical events given the multi-national nature of our group.

The countryside of was again very interesting and in some aspects quite different from my home province Binh Dinh. It appears to be a more affluent area with a huge amount of new development. Initially we passed through horticultural land interspersed with many relatively new large industrial buildings and warehouses. For a long way there were canals on each side of the road crammed with pink or white lotus flowers. There were still large rice paddies but also extensive areas growing vegetables and many fish farms. Initially the numerous towns lining the highway looked relatively prosperous and the pagodas and cemeteries seemed more ornate than those of Binh Dinh. We traveled on a substantial road and over some impressive new bridges. Some of the houses had a whole host of spires and turrets while the commercial buildings included some novel styles.

We stopped for a break at a shop selling dusty, tired, handcrafts and souvenirs. It provides employment for children with disabilities and wanting to support them I looked about for something I would like to buy but nothing appealed at all. During the trip a CD of music played an unpredictable mixture of tunes old and new. I could not keep from chuckling aloud when amongst at Jingle Bells came bursting out. The ridiculousness of traveling through the a sweltering Vietnamese May morning while listening to this old Christmas chestnut really appealed to me.

Nearer to Halong the landscape changed. Walled villages of mostly unpainted concrete houses could be seen across the paddy fields while other houses were located amongst palm and banana groves. As we approached the distant hills I again tried to define for myself what it is about their color and shape that is so distinctly Vietnam. An attempt to sketch the outline only served to remind me that I am an artistically talent free zone!

As we approached the coast the distinction between land and sea became blurred as the marshes, canals, tidal rivers, estuaries and walled fish ponds melded with the land. The roads and houses were built on reclaimed land and dykes. Tall limestone outcrops, with steep, dark grey rocky sides contrasting with recently eroded white cliffs rose up from the plains like island.

Most of my fellow travelers were snoozing in the very warm van but I felt excited by the landscape unfolding around us. Several times as we journeyed, I unintentionally blurted out ‘look at that’. How could they resist the pleasure of seeing a bride in full wedding regalia riding sidesaddle on a motorbike with her veil streaming out behind her, a long row of eight foot tall concrete Buddha’s, mostly without heads, being constructed from concrete on the side of the road or a pickup truck with little dogs and monkeys dressed in bright yellow and red jackets tethered on the back? It seems they could so I learned to keep my observations to myself!

In Halong city we went straight to the dock. In a seemingly chaotic, but not at all haphazard manner, tourists from various vans and buses were regrouped and our cluster of travelers for the trip was assembled. I kept my eyes locked on our young guide as we wove through a mêlée of tourists, hawkers and guides to find our boat amongst the dozens tied up to a concrete sea wall. Embarking on to the boat was an experience in itself. I was grateful for the preparation that a midnight gulley walk with Nick and Joe before I left Hamilton had afforded me. Scrambling over a log across the stream was good training for the process of teetering up a narrow, flexing duckboard while gripping on to a bamboo pole held at each end by a boatman. This was followed by a process of scrambling from boat to boat by climbing up the side of one and leaping across to the next until we reached the “Dream Voyage”. It certainly served as a good ‘ice-breaker’ for the group of 12 with whom I was to share the journey.

We began relaxing and getting to know each other and after awhile were seated for a delicious lunch. The process of being seated for the lunch was a mystery in itself. The crew directed various people to stand and move to different seats until we were grouped to their liking; a Vietnamese family at one table, two Malaysian business men at another and the rest of us; me, a brother and sister from Slovenia, a man from Holland and a young man from Canada at another. Given that we had been talking with each other, and were subsequently all served the same food, the reasons for this imposed seating arrangement was not clear but we all dutifully complied.

The boat like most of the others was heavily built from wood. It had three decks, cabins on the lowest, a dining area, the ‘bridge’ and more cabins on the middle and an open deck with sun-loungers on the top. At the front was a large carved dragon’s head and colorful flags decorated the ropes and mast. It did not have the functionless but decorative sails that denoted some of the boats as “junks”. My cabin was a reasonable size with two comfortable beds and my own toilet and shower. It was an excellent day.



Unable to cross my fingers for good luck (that is a very rude gesture here) I hoped fervently for the lake-like calmness promised in the pamphlet as we crossed the bay and made for the distant islands. After a particularly disastrous attempt, back in New Zealand, to go swimming with dolphins when I retched unceasingly as others frolicked in the water, I had sworn never to set foot on a boat again but fortunately the sea was calm, and apart from a short period on the way home, I never felt unwell on the trip.

The Vietnamese family stayed inside in the shade but the rest of us congregated on the top deck and enjoyed lively conversation while taking in the changing view. It is a stunning place. We only traversed a tiny section of the Halong Bay area but as far as we could see, in all directions, we were surrounded by steep sided limestone islands of various shapes and sizes. Our first stop was at “The Amazing Cave”. In a trail of tourists from a number of boats we climbed up some steep steps then descended into the welcome coolness of the caves interior. The commentary, explaining the creation of the area by a descending dragon, was cheesy and the focus on highlighting phallic shapes amongst the stalagmites somewhat obnoxious, but the cave was amazing. It was cavernous and eerie. As we wandered along a well constructed path I wondered what it had been like for people who came into caves such as this before the advent of lights and torches. What was it like to be in a massive cave with only a fire on a stick that could not possibly penetrate the full extent of the darkness?

After the cave we went kayaking. I was a little nervous at the prospect but wanted to give it a go. Again events at home had serendipitously prepared me for my adventures. Not long ago Anne K kindly organized a day in which I tried kayaking for the first time so I knew I could do it. They were double kayaks but I chose to go on my own. As I paddled along past the high cliffs to look at a shrine, with steps up to it carved into the rock, tears stung my eyes as I thought about how good it would be to be doing this with Rob. From high in the sky a big hawk came down and flew for a time along beside me as I drifted on the jade green sea. I am not suggesting that this was Rob in her promised reincarnation but it did feel very meaningful. My spiritual cynicism may have served me well over the years but it has taken some heavy knocks over the last year!

Back on the boat we traveled through seas turning golden in a perfect sunset. It was a precious time – a time when I felt enormously grateful to be alive and to be in this beautiful place. The camera got a thorough workout as I took numerous cheesy photos of the sunset. After dinner some of the passengers and an exuberant crew went swimming. This entailed leaping off the top deck into the warm dark sea – I was not game enough to join in. The rest of the evening included a period of excruciatingly bad karaoke, a German form of yahtzee (a great traveling game for people of mixed languages) and increasingly silly card games. Not being into drinking the copious beers being consumed by the others and the crew I eventually retreated and enjoyed a lovely period of solo star gazing on the top deck before going to bed.

The next morning I rose early hoping for an equally dramatic sunrise but the day just emerged grey and cloudy. It was a bit of a wasted day. We only motored around in the same vicinity, exchanging passengers with other boats as people were sorted out into different tour groups, depending on how long they were staying, the returned to the dock, where we reversed the process of embarking but this time we climbed over five boats before reaching the land. It was a pretty hairy process during which I cut my hand as I grabbed at the rough lead edge of a boat’s roof. We then began our long, hot journey home.

One of the things that amazes me about Vietnam is the extent of the cash economy. The trip, for which we had all paid quite different prices (even those of us who got to do exactly the same thing), was like everything else here, paid for in cash. I have no idea how the money was divvied up as people were moved from boat to boat but I am afraid I resisted our guide’s insistent pleas for tips for him and for the crew. Maybe I am cheap but I felt that I had paid over the odds compared with the others on board and we certainly did not go to all of the places that I had been promised in my pamphlet. I am pleased that I took an overnight trip as the sunset was well worth it.

When I returned to the Hilton (much to the surprise of the other passengers) to get my bags I ordered a hotel taxi to take me back to the cheap streets to find an affordable hotel. The taxi driver seemed at first bemused and then quite annoyed as he wound his way through the increasingly narrow streets of the old quarter. I do not think that he is used to transferring his customers to the modest hostels of this neighborhood.
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I stayed in the City Gate hotel. My bedroom would have served well as a cupboard but it was clean and the staff were really friendly. There was even a poor bleary eyed young man who had been sleeping on the hard couch in the entrance way to assist me to my taxi at 4:00 in the morning