CAT BA ISLAND, VIETNAM
On the second day of our Halong Bay tour, I awoke at 6:30 am wondering just who had turned on the vibrating bed. It took me a minute to realize that it was just our boat's engines starting up! After enjoying the effect for a little while, I eventually got up for breakfast and then said goodbye to Laura, Greg, and the Spaniards, who had only signed up for a two-day tour. Chris, Daniel, Pia and I then transferred to a smaller boat which took us to Cat Ba, the largest island in Halong Bay, and home to Cat Ba National Park. (Tragically, the theme song from the movie Cat Ballou then lodged in my head, where it kept playing in an endless loop all day long.)
Anyway, after docking there, Pia perhaps wisely decided to stay onboard while Daniel, Chris and I followed Binh onto the island for some "light trekking," which actually turned out to be two hours of pretty rough climbing across the island through steamy jungle and over razor-sharp pitted limestone rocks. Although the island is home to all kinds of birds and animals including monkeys, hornbills, and hedgehogs, we didn't see many critters besides a few giant orb spiders, a ball millipede, and lots of colorful butterflies.
About halfway through our hike we came upon a clearing and some fruit trees, which turned out to be the homestead of an elderly couple who lived in the National Park and acted as rangers of a sort, keeping an eye out for poachers. As the woman fanned us and offered refreshments (bananas, custard apples, and bitter green tea) under their tiny shelter, Binh explained that they were both veterans. As an American, it was strange to think that the providers of such warm hospitality would have been considered "the enemy" thirty years ago. As we stumbled through the hot jungle on the second half of our cross-island hike, I couldn't help thinking how miserable conditions must have been for both sides during the long years of "The American War," as it's called here.
After meeting up with the boat again, we moored next to one of the floating houses scattered throughout the bay, which in addition to housing lots of adults, kids, and dogs, apparently also serve as fresh seafood markets--each house includes floating pens beside it filled with live sea creatures, which in this case included kingfish, mantis shrimp, crabs, clams, and some rather sad-looking cuttlefish. I swam in sympathy beside my cephalopod friends for a bit before doing some more kayaking with Chris and Binh, who showed us yet another "secret" island lagoon surrounded by peaks on all sides, accessible through an opening that's only passable at low tide--the perfect pirate hideout. We then paddled around some more islands and landed on a beach where we swam some more. From the beach, I noticed that the landscape looked just like a Chinese watercolor painting, with impossibly-shaped islands in flat shades of blue fading into the distance until they merged with the sky.
Late in the afternoon, our boat headed around the island and docked at Cat Ba Town, a ramshackle fishing port that seems to be growing quickly into a flashy resort town--there are a number of brand-new hotels, restaurants, and karaoke bars there, as well as a rather showy waterfront walk complete with dancing fountain/light show. For our second night, we're staying in one of the new hotels, which I have to admit although not as unique an experience as the boat was quite a bit more comfortable. Chris and I ventured out later for dinner, where we ran into Daniel and Pia at a local restaurant. After eating together and returning to our hotel, Pia convinced them to play There's Something About Mary on the closed-circuit movie channel, which we went back to our rooms and watched.
On the second day of our Halong Bay tour, I awoke at 6:30 am wondering just who had turned on the vibrating bed. It took me a minute to realize that it was just our boat's engines starting up! After enjoying the effect for a little while, I eventually got up for breakfast and then said goodbye to Laura, Greg, and the Spaniards, who had only signed up for a two-day tour. Chris, Daniel, Pia and I then transferred to a smaller boat which took us to Cat Ba, the largest island in Halong Bay, and home to Cat Ba National Park. (Tragically, the theme song from the movie Cat Ballou then lodged in my head, where it kept playing in an endless loop all day long.)
Anyway, after docking there, Pia perhaps wisely decided to stay onboard while Daniel, Chris and I followed Binh onto the island for some "light trekking," which actually turned out to be two hours of pretty rough climbing across the island through steamy jungle and over razor-sharp pitted limestone rocks. Although the island is home to all kinds of birds and animals including monkeys, hornbills, and hedgehogs, we didn't see many critters besides a few giant orb spiders, a ball millipede, and lots of colorful butterflies.
About halfway through our hike we came upon a clearing and some fruit trees, which turned out to be the homestead of an elderly couple who lived in the National Park and acted as rangers of a sort, keeping an eye out for poachers. As the woman fanned us and offered refreshments (bananas, custard apples, and bitter green tea) under their tiny shelter, Binh explained that they were both veterans. As an American, it was strange to think that the providers of such warm hospitality would have been considered "the enemy" thirty years ago. As we stumbled through the hot jungle on the second half of our cross-island hike, I couldn't help thinking how miserable conditions must have been for both sides during the long years of "The American War," as it's called here.
After meeting up with the boat again, we moored next to one of the floating houses scattered throughout the bay, which in addition to housing lots of adults, kids, and dogs, apparently also serve as fresh seafood markets--each house includes floating pens beside it filled with live sea creatures, which in this case included kingfish, mantis shrimp, crabs, clams, and some rather sad-looking cuttlefish. I swam in sympathy beside my cephalopod friends for a bit before doing some more kayaking with Chris and Binh, who showed us yet another "secret" island lagoon surrounded by peaks on all sides, accessible through an opening that's only passable at low tide--the perfect pirate hideout. We then paddled around some more islands and landed on a beach where we swam some more. From the beach, I noticed that the landscape looked just like a Chinese watercolor painting, with impossibly-shaped islands in flat shades of blue fading into the distance until they merged with the sky.
Late in the afternoon, our boat headed around the island and docked at Cat Ba Town, a ramshackle fishing port that seems to be growing quickly into a flashy resort town--there are a number of brand-new hotels, restaurants, and karaoke bars there, as well as a rather showy waterfront walk complete with dancing fountain/light show. For our second night, we're staying in one of the new hotels, which I have to admit although not as unique an experience as the boat was quite a bit more comfortable. Chris and I ventured out later for dinner, where we ran into Daniel and Pia at a local restaurant. After eating together and returning to our hotel, Pia convinced them to play There's Something About Mary on the closed-circuit movie channel, which we went back to our rooms and watched.
posted by John Kuge at 11:30 PM
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