The Sights of Halong Bay  

We had hoped to take a side trip to Halong Bay after arriving in Hanoi but decided to wait until we arrived in Hanoi to see how the weather would be. As it turned out 2 of the 4 days in Hanoi would be OK for a trip to the bay so we decided to ‘go for it’.

On the bus again, we would travel 2 ½ hours to the bay for a 2 day, 1 overnight trip on a ‘Junk’ boat. This is a boat that has nine cabins for 18 passengers. It has a very Vietnamese look. We would motor out into the center of one of the many groups of islands to see a small area of this huge bay.

Halong Bay is a group of about 3,000 small limestone islands off the coast of Vietnam. These granite rock islands do not have people living on them although there are 5 islands where ‘boat people’ live in very small shacks that float on the water. They support themselves by selling fish to large boats that come to their community to sell them food, clothes, water, gasoline (for their generators) and other things they need.

We couldn’t believe how incredibly beautiful these islands were. The weather was overcast gray (but no rain) which gave all of these islands a very mysterious feeling and look. These small islands rose out of the water several hundred feet in many cases. We were told that many of the islands had caves and we would be able to visit and go inside 2 of them. One of them was called the “Surprising Cave” and we were surprised by the beauty and size of this one.

We finished the first day with a Kayaking trip from one of the bays, where many boat people live, to another island with caves that were large enough to paddle through and into another small inlet. Everyone was amazed by the beauty of the rock formations with the calm and clear water. This was kayaking at its very best. After returning to the ‘mother boat’ it was time to get ready for dinner. Everyone dined together and we enjoyed talking with this international group of people. Half of the group were ’20 somethings’ traveling for various reasons (teaching in China, vacationing, traveling and one couple were even traveling around the world!!).

Waking up on the second day we would all meet for breakfast then begin motoring to another island to visit the Surprise Cave and then begin motoring back into the bay. With a very large number of these Junks coming back into the bay, it reminded me of a ‘zillion’ motorbikes crammed into a one lane road. It was crazy watching all of these boats maneuvering for a place to dock. Since there wasn’t enough dock space they bumped and nudged other boats and wound up tying up to each other so leaving our boat meant climbing from one junk (and many of them looked that way!!) to another to get to shore. We were then taken to a ‘Resort Hotel’ for a very nice lunch. Then the bus ride back to Hanoi. Needless to say we were very tired that evening. But what a great Haloing Bay trip. Viet Nam is currently in a petition drive to have Halong Bay become one of the “Seven Wonders of the World”. Which one are they going to kick off the list???

We must mention our tour guide. Kiem is 25 years old, speaks very good English and was so enjoyable and wanted to learn about our way of life. It was interesting to talk with him about how he lives, and his background in the Northern part of Viet Nam. He made the trip so much more enjoyable. When in Hanoi the next time put Halong Bay on your ‘to see’ list. Ask for Kiem!

Where’s Pat and Mike?