Do you know the way to Ha Long Bay?

We walked out way back from old town (where we had watched the puppets and eaten) to our hotel, as it was only 25 minutes, and the traffic would have quieted (the only way to cross the road in the day is to pin the traffic with your gaze and move at a constant speed, whilst all the scooters avoid you by millimeters). Turns out this was only half right, as people apparently don't sleep. 

About 15 minutes in I felt a spot of water hit my arm, presumably from the first floor somewhere. Eww. 5 minutes later it happened again, then again. Good news then, it was raining, and I wasn't hit by some mystery waste liquid. Of course the bad news was that it was raining, and lightning could be seen in the distance. We hot footed it back to the hotel as the rain grew gradually heavier, but managed to get inside just before the storm hit properly. Belle foolishly decided to go find a conical hat, and ended up getting soaked and paying 5 times the price as the savvy shopkeeper realised that she would pay more or less anything so she could leave, and escape the torrential rain.

The weather had cleared up by the next morning for my 6.50 alarm though. Still overcast in Hanoi, but I was quite happy about this, as our destination, the works famous Ha Long Bay was 4 hours away, and the cloud let me delay my sun cream till midday and save precious millilitres. Before we left Hanoi though we had a breakfast at the Blue Dragon Foundation, a charity which helps to house and school street children aged 6 and up.

We were greeted by a couple of very cheery, very good English speaking social workers, who explained all about the charity, then we had breakfast (in fact, second breakfast) with some of the 'kids' (who averaged out at about age 20). Afterwards there was a chance to buy some small souvenirs before we got back on the bus, and set off for Ha Long Bay, one of my most anticipated destinations of the holiday!

Far fewer dragons than expected

Since it was a moderately long (4 hour, as you may recall) journey, we stopped off half way at a place which produced statues, textiles, and other handicrafts which was set up to help support veterans and families of veterans of the war. There were some very nice, very big statues which they would ship the statues anywhere in the world, but 180,000,000 dong was a bit too rich for me, so I settled for a tiny one at a much more modest 300,000, made from jade.

Amazingly, despite driving for a couple of hours, we hadn't hit the countryside yet. Whilst there were farms, there were still plenty of buildings lining the roadside, and we only got into open fields after another half hour. Another hour, and we hit the first of the distinctive limestone pinnacles typical of Ha Long Bay (though this one was on land, as opposed to the sea like most of them are).

Ha Long... Land?

It wasn't long before we reached the port, and we got onto our boat almost straight away, as it was a private one. Since we were in the bay already, it was excitement from the off. It looked fairly hazy as we set out, much to our disappointment, but luckily it cleared up by the time we got to sailing among the islands.

Just out of the harbour

Wish I could've found my 'You Are Here' shirt :(

It's like a fog has lifted...

Whilst we made our way there, we were treated to lunch aboard the boat, 7 courses or so! Mostly it was fish, though there was pork involved too, and it was very nice (and included in our holiday bill). Luckily swimming wasn't on the cards due to an algae problem, I'd have sunk.

We stopped at one of the islands to go and visit the biggest cave in the bay, the 'amazing cave' (no, I'm not joking). The entrance was up 200 steps, on a cliffside which taxed some of our party, but not me. The first room was small according to Ngyuen, and the other 2 big. Well the first room was about 10 meters high, 25 wide, and 50 long, which as far as I am concerned is pretty damn big already for a cave. The second was, well, big. It was fairly twisty and turny, so hard to put a number on, but big would cover it. As for the third, it was probably 300 meters long, and of varying width and height. I would call this very big.

Doesn't look so amazing from out here!

The view on the way up was alright though

I tried to use myself for scale. It didn't work very well. Just trust me, it was big (and amazing)

The spire in the light was right next to where I was standing in the last photo

Throughout, there were tons of stalactites and stalagmites, in fantastical shapes. Ngyuen tried to talk us through what some of them looked like, but half of the time the supposed likenesses were questionable. No matter, it was fun to try and find your own, and some, such as King Kong, and a turtle were pretty accurate. We all got instructed to rub the turtle's head too, apparently it gives you longer life.

King Kong is holding up the roof

We walked around the caves in about an hour or so (the big cave had a set path for you to walk, due to holes in the floor and stuff), before emerging at a different exit, higher up than where we entered. A few hundred more steps (down this time luckily), and we were back at the boat.

I don't know why I was standing like I was in an aftershave advert on the way out; I wasn't

There was a chance to kayak after this, and most of us (8 of us) jumped at the chance. It was a wise decision. Unfortunately no cameras, as it was potentially wet, but I think this was my highlight of the day, and the holiday so far. We paddled through a tunnel in one of the islands, only about 2 meters high, and when we emerged at the other side it was in a completely enclosed cove, a couple of hundred meters in diameter. The high walls shut out all sound from the outside, so the place was silent except for the chittering of monkeys which were jumping around in the trees and scaling the cliffs like tiny rock climbers, and bird call from the cranes, sea hawks, and crows flying about. 

We paddled round the edge of the interior, getting within a couple of meters of a few monkeys sunning themselves, and grooming each other on some rocks by the water's edge. They talked back endearingly when our guide made nonsense sounds at them, and shockingly I think I actually liked these monkeys! For those who don't know, the wild monkeys I have met have all been terrible people, so I am not as charmed by them as most, but these guys seemed ok.

After a while in the cove, we exited via the tiny tunnel, and went to look at some interesting rock formations before returning to the boat. Dinner was once again a multi course affair, with some very well presented shrimp on skewers, oyster omelette, carp (which I didn't like very much, tasted silty), and many more. I think the lunch was better, but some people seemed to love the carp in particular.

Don't eat the flowers!

Fish in a net of carrot

Me, Dave, Belle, and Steve stayed up till near midnight, drinking beer and chatting on the top deck, listening to the appalling karaoke from a nearby boat. It seems strange that you can just relax with a beer in such an iconic place, I can't imagine doing it in Macchu Piccu, or Iguazu Falls (not that I have been to know!), but it was a great end to a great day.

Obligatory sun photo