Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
We arrived in Hanoi on Saturday and are here again now however we have spent the last two days out and about in Ha Long Bay…
There are no words that can describe this place that can possibly do it justice. I’ll have a stab at it anyway. What you see in the pictures is pretty much it, this place is an amazing display of natural beauty; quite similar to the rising limestone cliffs of Krabi and Ko Phi Phi in Thailand but on a far bigger scale with a higher concentration of cliffs and islands. Ha Long has an estimated 1,600 islands resulting in enough caves, beaches and bays to escape in without coming across another boat for hours – a million miles away from crazy Hanoi.
Ha Long was a big factor in the decision to come to Vietnam in the first place and upon arriving here on Saturday we wasted no time in searching out various local travel agencies specialising in tours to the Bay. There were all sorts of options on the table; two night cruises, packages with one night on a junk and one on an island, day trips, adventure trips – pretty much something for everyone. We settled for a two day trip which included kayaking around areas of the Bay and mountain biking. Aside from the spectacular views we were most looking forward to our night’s accommodation – we opted against a night on a junk in favour of a night on an island just south of Cat Ba island.
The day started early as we had to be at the office for 7:45am, this was easier said than done because Pezza’s arse had other ideas as she continued her love affair with sitting on the toilet. We were running a little late so we had our first taste of Hanoi’s taxi bikes – just wait for the next blog for more on this, it’s crazy. The first leg of the journey was a four hour coach trip to Ha Long City, the jumping off point for the cruise, Ha Long City is a bit of a dump itself which is why so many people chose to do this trip out of Hanoi.
Upon arriving at the harbour it became apparent that this was quite a touristy thing to do, the area was rammed with people waiting to board their junk. Once we were on board however things quickly changed. Ha Long Bay is so vast that each boat can find its own way and disappear behind an island to ensure the touristy feeling goes away. Once we’d had lunch on the junk we dropped anchor and followed our guide in kayaks into various small bays and caves otherwise inaccessible. It’s very easy to see why this area was granted World Heritage status (the 11th off my list!)
After the kayaking we stayed where we were and did the only thing you can do when your boat is anchored for a while – climb onto the top deck and bomb into the water. We had a good mix of people on the boat; joining me and Pezza were a couple of Dutch guys, a few Austrians, an English couple and an Aussie bloke (ideal as I had lots of Ashes banter to get out). Following the kayaking and swimming we all felt we had deserved our beers and we made hay for the island.
The island is owned and operated by our tour group, there would only be a few of us there and we could expect a barbecue on the beach at night before retiring to our bungalow. I expect more of this kind of stuff as we move along the coast; it has been nearly two weeks since we left home and this is our first beach but when you picture what I have described in this paragraph, believe me, it wont be far from the reality.
The next morning we had to ditch the mountain biking thanks to (you guessed it) Pezza’s botty and we got the earlier junk back. The journey back to the coast was more direct with more signs of life. It was fascinating as we passed the floating fishing villages made famous more recently with the Top Gear Vietnam Special. They are massive floating communities and all the way through the bay you see and here the old fishing boats tuk-ing along. A wonderful sight.
Make sure you check the pictures out – I’ve cut them down from well over a hundred to around 45.
Show on map
Dude
Pics look awesome. Can you put some up of Pezza bottom sadness please?
Loving the quality of the pics – I assume it’s the new camera and not you!!!
Miss you
x
The new camera makes me look good – you can see some of the nighttime pictures on the island were without the Gorillapod meaning they are a bit fuzzy. Amazing eally, a £9 tripod can make £450 worth of camera look good!
Pezza’s arse seems to be baby-dry this morning, I’ll keep you posted. I should perhaps start up a new blog ‘PezzasArse.com’
xxx
Looks like we may have crossed paths… Halong Bay is stunning. Staying on the island sounds awesome. We opted for 2 nights on the boat. The first night I spent alone on the top deck – it was awesome to wake to the sunrise…
Kim,
We thought 1 night would do us and considering the issues Pezza was having with her stomach (and beyond) it was probably best for us. The Kayacking through the caves was my highlight.
We probably waved at each other’s boats!
Andy