Halong Bay

Friday noon until Saturday noon was spent cruising around Halong Bay aboard the junk boat Dragon Legend. Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage sight located about 180 km’s east of Hanoi and consists of about 2000 towering limestone islands. First, however, we had to get there and that meant another eye opening experience on the roads.
We were picked up from our hotel bright and early Friday morning by a nice 8 passenger luxury van with reclining leather seats and kick ass a/c. We were looking forward to a calm, peaceful drive through the Vietnamese countryside - ha, the joke was on us.
Rural driving in Vietnam is no different than city driving, except at a higher rate of speed. Honking is still a constant and is done when wanting to pass, after passing, waiting to be passed, or seemingly just for the hell of it. Highway driving is similar to city driving in that 3 or 4 lanes are often created out of 2. Passing is done with oncoming traffic within 50 metres or so (the closer the better apparently) but vehicles in both directions just slide over to make space for the passing vehicle. Nobody seems to panic, except for the Canadians in the back of the van. Shoulder passing is common, with vehicles somehow squeezing between a shoulder riding scooter and the vehicle being passed.
There are a number of vendors who set up shop on the side of the highway, not off the highway, but on the shoulder. Vehicles will stop on the highway to make a purchase, while being serenaded by car horns. Most vendors were selling fruit and drinks but I did see a couple of tire shops for truckers. With a small inventory of large tires and all the tools needed to repair/replace tires it was a portable tire shop, all on the shoulder of the highway.
One other note. It’s currently rice harvesting season so rice is out drying everywhere in the rural areas. Front yards, driveways, the side of the road, even encroaching onto the road. Yet everyone seems to respect the rice and give it a wide enough berth so as not to disturb it.
Our drive to Halong Bay was hair raising, crazy, and chaotic and all we could do was trust that our driver knew what he was doing.
After safely arriving at the Bay we boarded a tender to take us out to our boat. The Dragon Legend is a 44 passenger boat, and is considered to be a luxury vessel. We chose this boat because apparently the lesser priced cruises can be a little iffy (unsettling, dubious, downright scary - pick your adjective). According to online reviews, critters in your cabin and questionable food are not uncommon. And, this boat visits a quieter part of the bay as at any one time there could be 500 of these boats plying the waters.
I wouldn’t call our boat luxury but it was clean, the food was good and tasty, and the staff were fantastic, in particular our cruise director Harry Potter (so named because no one can pronounce his Vietnamese name, and he does magic tricks). There was some discussion of a mutiny when we found out there was no wifi on board, as we were cruising out of cell range. Nothing like complaining about first world problems in a developing country.
As we cruised out into the bay we enjoyed a nice Vietnamese lunch, arriving at our first stop of the day a couple hours later. Our boat dropped anchor and we had the option of kayaking or taking a tour aboard one of the tenders. The 4 of us choose kayaking with the boys heading out together and Nat and I sharing another boat. Spouses should not kayak together, ever, particularly when neither has kayaked in decades. We had as much rhythm paddling together as Al Gore dancing a rumba. Apparently left/right/left/right does not mean the same thing to us. No matter, we persevered and had a blast.
Dinner followed by a show put on by the crew was next up. I had a hell of a hard time staying awake (likely because, ahem, I was doing all the paddling in the kayak. I have a boo boo on my thumb that proves it) so I retired to our cabin early and passed out. Damn humidity claims another victim.
The next morning our boat anchored near an island with a large cave we could explore. We were tendered to the island and then led up a trail of stairs to the cave. There were only about 30 steps but we were all exhausted upon reaching the top. It was 8:30 in the morning but heat and humidity wins again. The cave was cool to see and walking through to the other side led us to some viewpoints for pictures.
After returning to the boat we enjoyed a mid-morning brunch and prepared to disembark as we motored back to port.
After tendering off we were picked up by our ride and had a relatively uneventful drive back to Hanoi, unless you count the herd of water buffalo crossing the highway to graze on the grassy median. Just another day in Vietnam.
After overdosing on Vietnamese cuisine during our cruise we decided on some surprisingly good Indian food for dinner. After dinner, on our way back to the hotel, we stopped in at a coffee shop to watch some World Cup and enjoy some iced Vietnamese coffee, which are a must try for any coffee lover. At a little over a dollar a piece this could turn into an affordable addiction.Read more