Ha Long Bay

We sorted out a trip to Ha long Bay by coach and then and overnight stop on a big junk boat in the famous Ha Long Bay area – now nominated as one of the top 7 natural wonders of the world by UNESCO.

Of all the places and things we’ve seen so far, this tops the list, it is the most surreal area possible.  Think James Bond, Goldfinger and the islands with vertical sides covered in vegetation – that’s Ha Long Bay - but there are over 1600 of these islands.

We kind of expected an isolated area but the Vietnamese are not holding back on tourism any more.  There are 400 Junks converted to hotels – from rough to luxurious.  It first looked like it was going to be too touristy for us but the place is huge and so the junks spread out, with about 30 coming together at an anchorage near to some spectacular caves.

The surreal nature of the area wasn't spolit by the number of boats and in the morning they sailed off in different direstions again.

Carole tried her hand at night fishing – normal result.

We’d got up at 0530 to watch the sunrise over the islands, typically it was misty, though still very beautiful.  The mist remained for the rest of the day but the views were still stunning and in some ways made the place seem more special.

 The area is known for its boat people who on floating platforms and grow mussels and oysters.  Large bays were full of these floating villages.

We went canoeing for an hour after the caves from one of the floating villages.  This was a bit tricky due to the shoulder problem of mine.  We’d been canoeing on the Wye earlier this year with Steve and Elise and puppy sat John and Shirley’s lab at the same time.  This left me to paddle most of the 22 miles whilst Carole puppy sat(played)  in the front of the canoe.  This time I couldn’t help much with the paddling but was able to proffer timely advice – a bit harder on the left, dear, more on the right – which I’m sure Carole appreciated. What is it they say about revenge and time…

After a cruise round some of the islands and a trip to a fish market, Carole loved it, and she found some very large jars of Vietnamese Viagra – or so we were told!  I’m not too sure; looked like a jar of snakes, lizards, seahorses etc in rice wine to me.

 

The agriculture in the area is still really traditional but the Vietnamese are very proud of the traditions.

We stayed overnight on Cat Ba island about 25 km off the mainland at an Eco hotel.  All wooden “huts” on stilts; but with all mod cons.  Just idyllic.

 It was set a couple of miles down a dirt track and we really didn’t know what to expect but its another top place.  I’m writing this sat on the first floor veranda surrounded by semi tropical(?) forest listening to weird animal sounds from the forest.  Not another sound other than the Vietnamese staff chattering –its like something off a film.

We are the only people stopping tonight and the service level is fantastic!  For dinner they set a table up on a raised patio tucked away into the forest.  The food is amazing, a little like Thai but not as hot.

We cycled to a private beach from the hotel so that we could go for a swim in the South China Sea.  The hotel arranged for part of the beach to be swept of stones for us - how Hollywood is that! 

View from the window.

And the best bit is that all of this Ha Long trip has been extremely cheap!

(Weirdly, whilst we were on the boat last night we met a great couple from Windermere, Barry and Margaret, who knew some of the people we do in the area!)

Bob and Jan's tenner having  drink on Cat Ba island.