Refreshed after a fourteen-hour sleep, I departed early this morning on an overnight tour to Ha Long Bay. The so-called pride of Vietnam, Ha Long was recently voted one of the “new” seven wonders of the world. Even though I suspect that was mostly due to an intense media campaign to encourage Vietnamese people to vote, it’s still a must-see on any trip to Vietnam. Tour companies all over Hanoi offer overnight trips to the bay with a stay on a boat known as a “junk” — the word has no relation to its English-sounding false twin, and actually means a Chinese-style boat. Ironically, the Chinese tourists who flock here every year won’t stay on the boats because they find them boring; they prefer to stay in town where they can gamble at the casinos. Still, the name has stuck, and there are now hundreds of boats in the bay that host tourists every day.
During the four-hour drive from Hanoi to Halong City, the scenic backdrop included expanses of rice fields, with women wearing conical hats working in them. Every so often, we would drive through a small town or village, and the streets would be lined with shops and restaurants and students in green and white jackets on bicycles. Outside of the bustle of Hanoi, another side of Vietnam can be seen. It’s visibly slower paced and more traditional, but then, there are the massive international factories dotting the landscape, where many of the Vietnamese are employed under working conditions that our labour unions wouldn’t much like. Those scores of cheap clothes and electronics and other consumer goods come from somewhere, and while most are from China, an increasing percentage of them are manufactured here.
About halfway to Halong City, we made a pit stop at a handicraft centre, which, I grant you, was an obvious tourist-trap-and-guide-gets-a-kickback place, but was nonetheless interesting. All of the handicrafts were made by disabled Vietnamese, and the guide explained that most of them are second-generation victims of exposure to Agent Orange or similar warfare chemicals during the Vietnam War (or, as it’s referred to here, the American War.) The birth defects and other effects are still felt to the point where the average life expectancy for these people is less than 50 years, and they’re not allowed to marry for fears that they will pass along the effects to a third generation, so the handicraft centres are one of the initiatives set up to provide a living for them. The actual centre is huge, with handmade silk clothing and embroidered scarves and lacquered plates and artwork, and there’s an entire sculpture garden outside. Despite the fact that the prices are easily two or three times what you’d pay on the street, I succumbed to temptation and bought a scarf.
When we arrived at Ha Long Bay, we were ushered into a small motorboat to take us to the larger boat that was to be our overnight home. The port was crowded with hundreds of boats, and they seemed to be obeying the same traffic rules as the motorbikes in Hanoi — that is, every boat for itself.
I’d heard various horror stories about the sketchiness of the backpacker boats, so I was not expecting to be greeted on board a lovely private boat with champagne and orange juice, and handed a key to a large cabin that’s bigger than most hotel rooms. Welcome to my luxury cruise. Yee-ha!
The weather was still cool and cloudy, but it had cleared up enough that we could experience the beauty of the bay. Photos won’t do it justice, but I took dozens anyway, in hopes. We motored — and eventually sailed — out towards the bay.
After lunch on the boat (a four-course meal), we went to visit the Surprising Caves. This enormous network of caves, carved into the sides of the rocks in Ha Long, have been used over the years as hiding places for various groups, most recently Vietnamese soldiers as part of the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail. The caves were giant, and full of rock formations that are said to look like various animals or figures. They were also full of giant French tour groups. Unfortunately, the French tour groups seem to be unavoidable everywhere I go. Vietnam is the new destination of choice for French tourists, I guess. It’s a bit ironic when you consider how the French are essentially despised here as the evil former colonial power. (Americans, on the other hand, are generally liked, even here in the North; Vietnam has made great strides in the past number of years to align itself with the US, and is reaping the economic benefits.)
At any rate, we spent about an hour exploring the caves, and after that, we got the opportunity to go kayaking on the bay. We loaded into two-man sea kayaks and were handed paddles, and followed a guide out on the bay. We went under a rock outcrop and into a lagoon, where we paddled right up to the rock outcrop known as Monkey Island… and in short order, we were able to see why. Monkeys monkeys everywhere! Swinging from trees, landing on rocks, playing and fighting and just generally going about their business. Sorry, no pictures; I couldn’t risk my camera in the kayak because it would surely have gotten wet. We stayed and watched the monkeys for as long as we could until the sky started to darken and the mosquitoes came out to bite, and then we went back to the boat. We had a lovely dinner on board, and then I turned in early, falling asleep surrounded by the spectacular beauty of the bay.
W O W !!!