Chasing Amy-Lou

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam:

With the daunting realisation that I’d spent more money than I should’ve done in Vietnam so far; and with the estimation that should I carry on as I had been doing, I’d only just make it through Laos and Cambodia, let alone Myanmar and Sri Lanka, my last few days in the country were to be spent more frugally than I’d originally planned.

With my not so healthy financial situation in mind, I came to a decision: despite wanting to spend a few days exploring Ha Long Bay, I yearned more than anything, to spend time in North West Vietnam, trekking in SaPa and the surrounding villages, experiencing the ethnic culture that thrived up there. So reluctantly, I opted for a day tour to Ha Long Bay instead of the overnight trip I’d previously thought about. And visiting Cat Ba to explore the national park was completely out of the question too. But I was ok with it. I still had a long way to go and a lot more to see, and sometimes in life, sacrifices have to be made along the way in order to reach the finish line in one piece.

The trip to Ha Long Bay began in Hanoi: I was collected from my hostel by a friendly, mild-mannered tour guide named Gary (obviously not his real name as he was Vietnamese), and we proceeded to collect the rest of our group from various locations around the city before taking to the highway to start the four hour drive to Bai Chai.

Once in Bai Chai we boarded our boat, set off on a slow cruise to Ha Long Bay and were treated to a fabulous lunch. Along the way I’d made friends with two of the sweetest Vietnamese men I’ve ever met. Michael and Thomson were Vietnamese ex-pats, Michael now living in Australia and Thomson in the US. Friends since childhood, the men had left Vietnam in 1979 and had kept in touch all this time, meeting up every now and again to take short holidays together. I thought it was just wonderful and we got along like a house on fire; chatting and laughing as we tucked into fresh shrimp, spring rolls, veggies, tofu and fish, and even shared a beer or two. It was bloody lovely.

As lunch came to an end we made our way to the top deck to check out the scenery. Now, Ha Long Bay has a legend attached to it (it probably has many legends attached to it but this is the one Gary told us); and legend goes that once upon a time, when Vietnam was newly formed, the people had to fight against invaders from the north. The Jade Emperor, feeling sorry for the people sent dragons from heaven to help defeat the enemy. When the Mother Dragon and her children descended on Vietnam they incinerated the invaders with their fire and spewed out jade and jewels into the battlefield (the bay area). Once the enemy had been defeated and the Vietnamese had their country back, the jewels and emeralds rose up from the waters of the bay and created the 1,969 islands that can be seen today. Liking it so much, the dragons decided to stay in the mortal world instead of returning to heaven, and transformed into human form, helping the Vietnamese to farm and expend their land.  To honour the dragons for all their help, the people named the area Ha Long Bay which translates as – The Bay Of Descending Dragons. And it’s for this reason that the Vietnamese believe they have dragon origins. Full story here: http://www.halongbay.info/news/the-legend-of-halong-bay.html

Anyway, Ha Long Bay was gorgeous, a picture perfect arrangement of mountain-like islands, each with caves and crevices formed into them; some tall and thin, others wide and short; some close to one another, some spread out and standing alone. It was a spectacle to see, a natural phenomenon.

We stopped off at a large cave called Heavenly Palace Cave where stalactites clung to the ceiling and stalagmites rose up from the cave floor; where they met and passed each other they’d created beautiful jagged-looking formations in the rock, some looking like fat Buddahs, others looking like mermaids; and one looking like Heaven’s Gate (or so we were led to believe). It was very impressive.

As we emerged from the cave and headed back to the boat, we stopped to take photos; the DSLRs made an appearance and someone even had a drone, but for Michael, Thomson and me, a simple selfie sufficed.

Next stop was the Three Caves or the Floating House, and it was here that I had the most enjoyable moment of the trip – I went kayaking. Jumping off the boat onto a little floating pontoon, I grabbed a life jacket and hopped into one of the waiting yellow kayaks. And for the next 40 minutes I rowed my way through caves, and oared myself along the still, calm waters. It was so peaceful. I could’ve floated there for hours.

Once back on the boat, we had a final opportunity to capture the beauty of the bay before returning to the marina to end our trip. In only doing a day tour, our time was pretty limited, and at points throughout the day I felt as though we were being rushed slightly; not being given the full opportunity to soak in the magnificence of these beautiful giants that floated around us in the murky green waters. But that wasn’t Gary’s fault (he was very professional and very kind), it’s how the tour ran, and we had still managed to see quite a lot.

And as we made it back to Hanoi later that evening, it looked like the rain had started. But you know what, I didn’t particularly care and I wasn’t going to let it dampen my spirits. I’d had a great day, had learned some interesting stories, and I’d met some absolutely beautiful people; and as I meandered my way through the old quarter, stopping to eat some Bun Cha on the street corner, I couldn’t keep the smile from my face.