Halong Bay

As Tuesday was a holiday in Vietnam (dead king's birthday, I think) my colleague Leah and I took a day trip to Halong Bay. It was billed as a natural wonder and one of the prettiest things in Vietnam - now I've seen almost nothing of Vietnam but I think it lived up to its hype. After a 3 and a half hour bus ride next to two sleeping women who I assess as a 12 year old and her mother (in fact a 22 year old Canadian and her friend - was totally wrong) and a dumb as rocks 22-year-old American boy who had figured out all the customs and values of asia based on his two weeks in Bangkok, we reached the Bay. Well, after a stop at a ceramics tourist trap, of course. It's actually funny to be in a country that gets all types of tourists (especially inexperienced travelers). I realize India really only gets the die hards. The bay was a bit of a madhouse initially with boat traffic jams to get out.

But it is stunning. Rock formations that they believe are due to volcanic activity or as legend has it spit out by a dragon dot the skyline. I actually don't know how to describe it so will leave that to the pictures. The tourist boats are all around but at least are pretty. We spent a few hours cruising the bay and then docked at what was somehow called the "surprise cave". I'm not sure I've actually ever been in a cave this big (that I wasn't swimming through). There are all these rock formations that are supposed to look like a frog and various other (often unmentionable) things.

So the thing I was most looking forward to was the kayaking. Just after we exited the caves the boat stopped again at what they called a fishing village but was really about 6 huts built on stilts in the water as a tourist stop to offer kayaks and fish and snacks. These women with boats full of "beer cold", oreos and other oddly inappropriate but tempting treats would come up and see if we wanted to buy anything. The kayaking was sadly very short. That's what we get for trying to do it in a day trip but it was still nice. We went around this hill/rock thing in very shallow water and went to check out a little shrine embedded into the rock.

That was basically it. Cruised back to the bay and a bus ride home. We reached back at like 8pm so it wasn't a crazy late day either. I would love to go back someday and just kayak for 3 or 4 days - it is so lovely.