Halong Bay, Vietnam 15.03.08

We arrived in Halong Bay by bus and were rushed to the pier to board the boat that we would spend the next day and night on. The pier was absolutely packed with junks –as these boats are called. There is more pollution in the air above that pier than there is on the busy streets of Hanoi. The boats are quaint but they spew black smoke out of their engines.

The Passengers
We were greeted by a sober group of middle aged people aboard the boat, all sitting quietly in the booths of the dining section. We were definitely expecting a much younger crowd. As lunch was served, we were bunched into tables of six, so that the food could be served in a communal style, rather than individual plates for each person. We were hesitant as we were pushed towards a table with four older Vietnamese people. Thankfully they spoke English, and it turned out that they had managed to escape to Canada after the end of the Vietnam War. They made their way illegally by boat through different countries in SE Asia, and eventually ended up in a Thai jail before being rescued by the UN and sent to the refugee camp. We ended up speaking mostly French to them, as one of the men didn’t speak much English, but was fluent in French. They became our dinner companions at each meal, as everyone seemed to return the same seats at meal times.
On the roof of the deck, we met some more passengers. These ones were from the Czech Republic. Artur and they were able to communicate easily by speaking in their own languages. Czech and Polish are similar enough to be able to do that, but because of the slight language barrier, Artur thought it sounded like he was listening to little kids rather than adults. It was funny, because with the few languages we know, we were able to communicate with everyone on the boat, regardless of which country they came from.

The View
From the top deck of the boat, you couldn’t see far into the distance, as everything was coated in a thick layer of mist. Halong Bay is supposed to be much more attractive in the sunlight, but to us the mist made it seem even more beautiful in an eerie, mysterious way. It felt surreal to be surrounded by white, with ships gliding past us and huge rock formations and islands all around us.

The Crew
We weren’t too thrilled when we were told by a crew member that we would be required to pay a USD 5 corkage fee for the bottle of wine that we brought with us. In Australia, the most we’d pay would be AUD 2, and this was Vietnam! In Vietnam, in local shops, we could buy one or more bottles of wine for that price. We adamantly refused, saying we had not been informed of this rule when we booked the trip. Thankfully we got away with it, but we had to drink from the bottle, as they wouldn’t provide any wine glasses.

The Limestone Caves
We climbed up a huge flight of stairs from the water, to reach the entrance of the caves. The first room we visited wasn’t very big, but it was pretty inside.

Lights were set up to highlight different aspects of the cave and different rocks that resembled humans and animals. Loren wasn’t impressed that the ceilings of the caves were covered in concrete. Obviously it was for safety reasons, but it made the whole thing look kind of fake.

The next room we crossed into was enormous! There were boardwalks built so that you could make your way around and through the cave. Some of the rocks that were lit up really resembled humans and sometimes human body parts....

Some other rocks resembled a lion, a bear, a dragon, many buddhas, a dog etc. In the photo below, you can see a woman sitting on a man's lap.

Kayaking
That afternoon we set out on kayaks to explore the bay and the rock islands. Thankfully by this point, the sun had come out and it was a beautiful, sunny day. We found an archway that lead into a bay surrounded by rock walls. It was beautiful, but there was rubbish floating in the water everywhere. Apparently people just dump their rubbish into the water. I’m not sure if it’s the junk boats with tourists, or the locals that live on floating houses.

We also found some caves that looked really small when you approached them, but when we rowed inside and tried to see how far they went, we often couldn’t see the end of them. We tried taking photos so that the flash would light up the cave in the dark, but even the photos didn’t show us how far back they went.

Dodgy

On the last night, we were told to stay in our rooms after midnight. This was because they had rushed us through the pier and had not properly registered us for the trip with our passports. Each night the police boats come to check the junks and who is staying on board. If we were caught on board, both we and the crew could have been in serious trouble!