Ha Long Bay is meant to be one of the world's greatest scenes of natural beauty. Emerald waters, gigantic limestone outcrops, echoing caves and secluded bays... Unfortunately ít is also out of season February and March due to poor visibility, but then why would that ever stop us? :)
To get to Ha Long Bay from Hanoi, signing up for a tour seems to be the most economical option, so we paid $45 for a three day and two night one. The tour proved more òf an... adventure than we anticipated! Everyone had different itineraries, had paid different amounts, and got swapped around constantly. Very strange! But, as we'd paid at the cheaper end, we weren't going to complain.
We had a good time. Every time we had to cram into a minibus it was like a game of human tetris trying to fit everyone in. And every meal was the same- cabbage, rice, chips for the vegetarians... But it was all very entertaining, and we met a nice group of people.
When we first arrived at Ha Long Bay we were loaded onto a boat and taken to "Celestial Cave", lit up eerily with coloured lights and brimming with stalagmítes and stalactites, not to mention rock formations like "Mother's breast" and the "Turtle of Longevity". Very impressive. We were also taken to see two "hidden" caves (actually in pretty clear view, but why be petty?) and the floating village, which incluđed a floating school and a floating bank, and had a suprising number of pet dogs given that there's no way of taking them for a walk... Also even here we couldn't escape the hawkers, but were sold fruit from boats that steered up speedily upon the ảppoach of any tourists!
Unfortunately the weather had reached an all-time low at this point and it was very damp and foggy, so víibility was poor, but actually it was very atmospheric as suddenly all of these islands would appear from nowhere out of the mists... Cold though!
We spent that first night on the boat, where our cabin light đidn't work and the elẻctricity got turned off at 9pm, which allowed for hours of torchy fun! It was an early 6am rise, however, for kayaking! Hell yeah! It was sooo good, it was a lot clearer as well so we could actually see the Bay, which really is amazing ás it's like the landscape of mountains... but at sea. Madness! Me and Amy spent about an hour kayaking about exploring this bit òf the bay, and kept dícovering altars and shrines embedded in the rocks where the locals come to pray.
Unfortunately I now have a cold, so maybe the kayaking was colder than it seemed at the time. Worth it though!
After drying off, warming up, and breakfast, we sailed ơnwards to Cat Ba Island, where we đid a trek in the National Park. I had great fun, as it basically involved haulịng yourself up vertical rockfaces to the summit, which I rêached first, and stood on a rock grinning and being very happy high up. Amy had less fun, I discovered upon my graceless descent, as she hadn't attempted this last part and so ínstead had had her glasses hịacked by the tour guide, who was now giving a Dutch woman a "traditional chakra massage". X_X
We were then unceromoniously abandoned at a hotel in the town for the rest of the dáy, but đetermined to make the best out of it, and so set off with some others to find the beach (very nice) and the Ho Chi Minh statủe (very strange- modern artists LOVE Ho Chi Minh, if his museum is anything to go by... I'll tell you later). At dinner we also met yet more new people, and so a group of 8 of us (5 British girls, a Canadian couple ând a guy from the Nểtherlands) went out desperately seeking some form of nightlife. After ascertaining that everywhere was equally dead, we settled on the Flightless Bird Bar, which had 50p bêer and dêcent music, and, by having our group of 8 ênter, immediately became the móst happening place on the island! It was good fun, we just sat about chatting til about 11.30/12ish, at which point they started folding up tables around us and we took that as our symbol to leave.
The next day was basically boats and busses back to Hanoi, and eating, which is all me and Amy seem to do now anyway. As you shall see in my Hanoi blog...
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