Ha Long Bay

Thursday 12 April 2007

What a gorgeous place!

Ha Long Bay

First let's discuss the 3 hour minibus journey to the harbour. There are more deaths in Vietnam due to road traffic accidents than for any other reason. Gav and the rest of our group saw a particularly horrific accident on the way. Luckily I was asleep so missed the whole thing although I was unlucky enough to see one on the return journey though. It's no wonder there are so many accidents as the locals drive like freaking lunatics - overtaking an overtaking vehicle is common practice so drivers are clean on the wrong side of the road driving into oncoming traffic. We have learnt that the best thing to do is simply not look ahead!

There are a ridiculous amount of boats moored at the harbour. Boarding your boat involves clambering over numerous other boats in a mad scrum of tourists until you reach the boat that will take you out into the bay. I suspect that risk assessing is not common practice in Vietnam. This part of the trip is a little grim as the pollution caused by the boats and tourists is evident in the colour of the water and the amount of litter floating on it.

Ha Long Bay Harbour

Anyway, all of that aside, Ha Long Bay itself is breathtaking and well worth the journey. There are around 3,000 limestone islands rising from the sea, some of which have little beaches and contain cave structures. The unusual shapes of the islands along with the mist that often surrounds them gives them an almost mystical appearance. They are very similar to the limestone rock formations that we mentioned seeing during our train journey from China to Vietnam (we have since learnt that this area is called Guilin in China).

Halong translates as 'where the dragon descends into the sea'. According to local legend the islands were created by a great dragon that lived in the mountains. As it ran towards the coast, it's tail gouged out valleys and crevasses, as it plunged into the sea, the areas dug up by the tail became filled with water, leaving only the high land visible.

Our Captain!

We sailed around the islands for around 2 hours on the way to our resort and stopped off half way at a floating settlement of boathouses. I am unsure as to the authenticity of these though as the 'locals' seemed to earn their living from selling ciggarettes and tubs of Pringles to tourists rather than fishing! Gav spent an hour kayaking and watching the wildlife, whilst I wondered around the houseboats (I was feeling far to lazy for any physical activity - as per usual). We also stopped at one of the numerous cave systems which lead to a secluded lake (pictures soon we promise!).

Kayaking in Ha Long Bay

The Lake

At around 7pm we arrived at the Ocean Beach Resort. Guys it was gorgeous! It comprises of 6 bamboo beach bungalows, all hand made by local craftsmen. Our bungalow was set into the hillside overlooking the whole resort. The only sounds we could hear from our room was the lapping of the waves and the insects in the forest behind us. Meals were served in the main house with our first meal being BBQ'd seafood caught fresh that day.

Ocean Beach Resort

In total there were 12 guests in the resort although not all were staying for the 2 nights as Gav and I were. We spent the evening with the rest of the group, chatting over a few beers....aaaaahhhhhh.

Okay so at midday the next day it started to rain. Damn it. Although even with rain the place was still great (well of course I'm going to say that). The 6 of us that were left in resort gathered in the main house with our gracious host, Chien, the owner of Ocean Tours. He along with the two guides, Tien and Tuong could not do enough for us. They went out of their way to make our stay perfect and we can't thank them enough. We sat drinking tea in the traditional fashion with Chien as he explained each part of the process (later in the evening we also drank Tequila slammers with him although there was no explanation required to participate in that). Apart from the Dog Incident (more on that on a seperate entry) we had a fantastic time.

Our Neighbours

Our Host and Guides

By midday on our final day the weather was perfect! The boat journey back to the harbour allowed us to see the bay again in a whole new light as rather than being shrouded in mist as it was on the way in, it was now glorious sunshine and we could see how beautifully green all of the islands were.

The Return Journey

Back to the chaos of the city......! We had one night in Hanoi before departing for Da Nang.