Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
It all started so well. We were greeted early by an exceptionally friendly and well spoken Vietnamese lad. We we're joined on the tour by the usual dozen other tourists. The weather was poor but we were in a good mood. With a 4 hour journey ahead of us we settled into a game of cards.
With about an hour left of the journey, we received the devastating news that the tour had been cancelled due to the bad weather and with that the bus began to turn around heading back to Hanoi. We took the news really badly and had to come up with a solution. We couldn't miss the bay. With the prospect of staying two more days aimlessly in Hanoi and worse missing Halong Bay we fashioned a sign out of a piece of old paper and ordered the bus to pull up, we jumped out ran to the other side of the road and held out the sign. Within minutes we were on a local bus heading for Halong and in a much more jubilant mood.
Having arrived at the pier a couple of hours later than originally planned we spent an extra few dollars and jumped on the next boat leaving the harbour. Given our timing the overnight tours had long since left, luckily a local boat owner came to our rescue and with the boat to ourselves we sat beside the captain on the bridge and began the chase. Surprise cave on Bo Hon Island was the first stop. A really well done tour and lighting plan illuminated a cavernous and majestic space, sculpted over thousands of years it took your breath away. We however didn't have long to linger the captain who had now become our non English speaking guide had us by the wrists sprinting through the cave at some pace, unimpeded by the other tourists they were pushed aside with ease, occasionally we were allowed a brief pause while we were positioned by the captain and our pictures taken (the many blurry cave pictures attest to this).
Exiting the cave we made a sharp left, jumped on the boat and raced off to the next island. The captain true to his task dropped us with our tour group and bid us a fond farewell. Just in time to kayak we donned a life jacket (the guide kindly paid the additional $2 allowing us to venture into the caves) and we jumped in a 2 person kayak. A floating village had been fashioned atop polystyrene blocks and anchored to the many vegetation covered rocky outcrops that surrounded and enclosed us on all sides. We paddled around the village and into the nearby caves and inlets exploring the hidden passages of this magical place. After 45 mins with the wind picked up and the ever present rain we decided to call it quits and headed to the relative comfort of the boat.
- comments