17th April 2010
Ha Long Bay is one of Vietnam’s most famous natural tourist attractions. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, there are literally hundreds of boats visiting it everyday and there are a myriad of tours available from Hanoi.
Karen had recommended the trip which we booked two and a half weeks ago in Saigon. As we’ve become accustomed to, we had very little information about the tour’s itinerary besides it being three days and two nights. One night would be spent about a boat in Halong Bay and one night in a beach hut on Monkey Island. However, we weren’t worried since Karen had already done this trip with her parents, and enjoyed it.
Once we had been picked up from our hotel and boarded the bus we relaxed a bit. We obviously had a booking, so that was a good start.
The bus journey took 4 hours to get to Ha Long City where we boarded a small boat which ferried us to our bigger boat and our home for the night. We were pleasantly surprised by the boat and our cabin which was nicely decorated in dark wood paneling with an en-suite bathroom. The rest of the boat had plenty of space and even a karaoke machine.
First order of the day as we were sailing to our first location was to enjoy a delicious sea food lunch. All very nice with the opportunity to chat to our fellow guests. There were about 14 of us in total, so quite a small group.
By the time we had finished lunch we had arrived at Sung Sot Cave or the Suprising Cave. A three cavern cave filled with stalactites and stalagmites. This is the largest and arguably the most beautiful cave in Ha Long Bay. We climbed up the steep stone steps to the mouth of the cave before following the path winding around the inside of the cave. The illumination and roped off pathway highlighting and emphasizing the best views of the stalactites and stalagmites and the various shapes they formed. The cave was originally named by the French, but they were not the first to discover it. When they found it there were already fishermen living in it. These fisherman now live on floating houses around the cave. We were lucky to have arrived when we did as it was really quiet and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Later on, more boats arrived and it became much busier.
Having explored the cave, we took a small boat across to one of the floating houses where we took a kayak out for half an hour. It was fabulous to get a “waters eye” perspective on these large rock formations towering out of the sea. However, being up close and personal with the water gave us the opportunity to see how dirty it really was, quite murky with oil slicks and floating rubbish. Rubbish aside, sitting and floating among these giant structures was an amazing experience, especially watching the large sea-eagles swooping down.
Kayaking over, we were back on the boat to head off to our stopping point for the night. We sat on the top deck of the boat and watched the limestone karsts for which Ha Long Bay is so famous, glide past.
On the way to our mooring point we stopped to allow some brave souls to jump off the top deck of the boat into the water below. We gave this a miss, for me, just just because of the height but also the waiting oil slick below.
The evening was spent getting to know new friends, enjoying a few drinks and unfortunately for everyone else murdering the karaoke machine on board!
