Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Perfect blue skies, warm tropical waters and the glistening green of one of the natural wonders of the world. This wasn't our Halong Bay experience, but it must have been someone's. It was cold, grey, dull and rainy, but that wouldn't damped our spirits. It is paradise after all.
We left our hostel in the early hours and drove all over Hanoi picking people up before we finally began the journey east - why we walked around the previous day I don't know as we saw all the sight again with none of the strain.
As nature becomes more custom to it's habitat and things evolve to suit their surroundings, it's hard to believe that the South East Asian's haven't started driving on the left hand side of the road and developed suspension in their arses. The roads really are shocking with overtaking skills to match.
We approached the bay a little after midday and met our crew and fellow (I hate this word, but...) tourists for our couple of days at sea.
I suddenly got a flash back of my time in South Africa. The first time we climbed Table Mt. in Cape Town. The weather was awful. We climbed through clouds to reach the summit where the visibility was 20m's. I knew at that moment, that I would climb the mountain again - which I did the following week and the blue skies made the view spectacular. I will return here one day in picturesque weather where it's beauty can truly be embraced.
We left the dock on a much smaller boat before sailing the short distance to our 'home' for the next 24 hours. It's hard to describe the scene, but 500 boats tour Ha Long Bay every day so as you can imagine, boats everywhere. Again, it's something I wish I could of done years ago before the flock of tourists came.
Lunch served and rooms distributed, we headed into the mist that surrounded the 1969 islands of Ha Long Bag - the exact amount of islands is unknown, but as it's somewhere in the region of 2000, so 1969 was picked as the official amount due to historical importance.
We walked on the inside of one of the bigger caves, kayaked around some of the smaller ones and visited the golden beach of another before the sun started to set on day one. This is probably where day one should have ended but no, karaoke (they really love it out here) followed. Hey Jude will never be the same again. We even attempted to squid fish, but nobody actually caught anything. Probably something to do with the lure's we used were pretty much just hooks.
The next day we headed back to land and eventually back to Hanoi arriving in the early evening. We'd agreed to meet Dave and Laura (as they were on a different bus to us), a couple from Wigan who we eventually ended up spending a few days with.
Next stop, Hue.
- comments