HALONG BAY, VIETNAM
One of the most spectacular natural sights of Vietnam is Halong Bay, a picturesque archipelago of over 3,000 mountainous islands strewn across the Gulf of Tonkin, a three-and-a-half-hour drive due east of Hanoi. Lured by all the pretty postcards, Chris and I booked a three-day, two-night tour of the bay and of nearby Cat Ba Island, which began early this morning when we were picked up at our hotel by Vega Tours and taken by minibus to Halong City. Our tour group consists of Chris, myself, and nine others: Daniel and Pia, a really warm and friendly married couple of 26 years from somewhere near Adelaide, Australia; Greg and Laura, two young students from Dublin, Ireland; and five Spaniards whose names I didn't catch. We were assigned an "English-speaking" Vietnamese guide named Binh, who more accurately speaks broken English with a stutter and a slight French accent.
On the way to the coast we drove past miles of green rice fields, punctuated by several large factories and a few of those big red communist-propaganda billboards featuring smiling industrious families, emphatic slogans, and lots of hammers and sickles. On arrival at the port of Halong City, we then boarded a big wooden boat which took us into the bay and through the maze of islands.
It really was an incredible view from the top deck as our boat motored past all those high limestone peaks, which eerily emerged from the fog one by one (for some reason, since we arrived in Vietnam yesterday there's been a misty haze over everything). The rock formations are apparently some of the world's most dramatic examples of karst topography, where limestone mountains have been eroded into strange shapes by centuries of rain and wave action (you may have seen pictures of similar mountains in Guilin, China, and Krabi, Thailand).
In addition to making the bay look like one big Roger Dean painting, all this erosion has created a number of impressive caves and grottoes on the islands. Our first stop was to visit one of these: Hang Sung Sot, or as our guide referred to it, "Surprising Cave." The "surprising" part refers to the fact that from a rather modest opening in the side of a hill, the cave opens up into three absolutely gi-normous chambers that would make Batman green with envy. In them are all sorts of stalagtites, stalagmites and other cave formations, many resembling statues of people and animals, and illuminated with colored lights. Our guide pointed out Buddhas, lions, dragons, a turtle, and well, a giant...um....okay, a giant penis. Surprising, indeed....
After touring the caverns, we then got back into the boat and again negotiated the labyrinth of islands, finally anchoring in a quiet cove among many other tour boats for the remainder of the day. We were then provided with two-man kayaks, and Chris and I paddled around a couple of the islands and through a tunnel into a "hidden" lagoon, which was pretty cool. We then paddled to nearby Titop Island, which features a tiny beach and an observation pagoda at its very peak, and climbed the gazillion or so stone steps to the top. The view from the summit was pretty incredible, I have to admit, although I must have lost a gallon or more of sweat in the climb. We then swam for a bit in the bay, which cooled things down a bit.
Back on the big boat, we then had dinner, which for some reason wasn't nearly enough food for our table! Guess we worked up an appetite with all that kayaking. Anyway, after dinner Daniel and Pia were gracious enough to share their chocolate biscuits and a big pomelo they had bought earlier in the day with Greg, Laura, Chris, and myself, and we had a good time hanging out and talking while we watched the squid boats troll the bay.
One of the most spectacular natural sights of Vietnam is Halong Bay, a picturesque archipelago of over 3,000 mountainous islands strewn across the Gulf of Tonkin, a three-and-a-half-hour drive due east of Hanoi. Lured by all the pretty postcards, Chris and I booked a three-day, two-night tour of the bay and of nearby Cat Ba Island, which began early this morning when we were picked up at our hotel by Vega Tours and taken by minibus to Halong City. Our tour group consists of Chris, myself, and nine others: Daniel and Pia, a really warm and friendly married couple of 26 years from somewhere near Adelaide, Australia; Greg and Laura, two young students from Dublin, Ireland; and five Spaniards whose names I didn't catch. We were assigned an "English-speaking" Vietnamese guide named Binh, who more accurately speaks broken English with a stutter and a slight French accent.
On the way to the coast we drove past miles of green rice fields, punctuated by several large factories and a few of those big red communist-propaganda billboards featuring smiling industrious families, emphatic slogans, and lots of hammers and sickles. On arrival at the port of Halong City, we then boarded a big wooden boat which took us into the bay and through the maze of islands.
It really was an incredible view from the top deck as our boat motored past all those high limestone peaks, which eerily emerged from the fog one by one (for some reason, since we arrived in Vietnam yesterday there's been a misty haze over everything). The rock formations are apparently some of the world's most dramatic examples of karst topography, where limestone mountains have been eroded into strange shapes by centuries of rain and wave action (you may have seen pictures of similar mountains in Guilin, China, and Krabi, Thailand).
In addition to making the bay look like one big Roger Dean painting, all this erosion has created a number of impressive caves and grottoes on the islands. Our first stop was to visit one of these: Hang Sung Sot, or as our guide referred to it, "Surprising Cave." The "surprising" part refers to the fact that from a rather modest opening in the side of a hill, the cave opens up into three absolutely gi-normous chambers that would make Batman green with envy. In them are all sorts of stalagtites, stalagmites and other cave formations, many resembling statues of people and animals, and illuminated with colored lights. Our guide pointed out Buddhas, lions, dragons, a turtle, and well, a giant...um....okay, a giant penis. Surprising, indeed....
After touring the caverns, we then got back into the boat and again negotiated the labyrinth of islands, finally anchoring in a quiet cove among many other tour boats for the remainder of the day. We were then provided with two-man kayaks, and Chris and I paddled around a couple of the islands and through a tunnel into a "hidden" lagoon, which was pretty cool. We then paddled to nearby Titop Island, which features a tiny beach and an observation pagoda at its very peak, and climbed the gazillion or so stone steps to the top. The view from the summit was pretty incredible, I have to admit, although I must have lost a gallon or more of sweat in the climb. We then swam for a bit in the bay, which cooled things down a bit.
Back on the big boat, we then had dinner, which for some reason wasn't nearly enough food for our table! Guess we worked up an appetite with all that kayaking. Anyway, after dinner Daniel and Pia were gracious enough to share their chocolate biscuits and a big pomelo they had bought earlier in the day with Greg, Laura, Chris, and myself, and we had a good time hanging out and talking while we watched the squid boats troll the bay.
posted by John Kuge at 11:23 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home