When we arrived at the Wyndham Legend Hotel in Halong bay, one of the first things we did was to book a short cruise for the following day. We were happy to accept the recommendation of the young tour representative at the hotel reception. The cruise was to be a four hour trip around the bay with a visit to some caves and a bit of kayaking thrown in. I was a bit wary of the whole cruise idea simply because I didn’t want to be one of a hundred people following a guide around. A lot of the cruises are on large cruise boats but in spite of my reservations we signed up for the recommended tour without really knowing too much about how big or small the boat would be or how many other passengers we would be travelling with. It was only when we went down to the hotel lobby that Lynne told me there were a lot of Japanese names along with ours on the list. This didn’t bode well but as the open topped electric car came to take us to the port, Lynne and I were the only ones to leave the hotel so thankfully the potential for an international incident between British and Japanese seemed to have been averted! On arrival at the cruise terminal we checked in at the desk and were given lanyards with the name Nang Tien on them and asked to wait amongst a couple of hundred other people all with lanyards and different boat names. Looking around, you soon realise what big business the cruises are in Halong Bay. After waiting roughly 15 minutes we were approached by a young Vietnamese guy who introduced himself as our tour guide. His name was Bag or at least that was how he pronounced it. As we followed him along the jetty towards the boat it became clear that there were only going to be 7 passengers on the cruise including Lynne and me. There were two young women possibly in their early 30s who I’m quite sure were Italian and an older Vietnamese couple who had what I think was their grandson with them. We walked quite a long way on the jetty past lots of big boats that would probably have carried 50 or more passengers. As we passed the last of the big boats and saw the only boat remaining my reaction was, “you’ve got to be kidding” or something similar but not quite as polite. Bag, who was right behind me immediately said, “don’t worry, this is just to get us to the cruise boat”.
That was a huge relief as I couldn’t imagine even as few as 7 of us being comfortable for long on a boat that small especially as they were meant to give us lunch too at some point. Once we got to the cruise boat, Bag (can’t get used to calling him that) explained that the boat was built by an Italian man who had met a Vietnamese woman and settled in Halong Bay around about 1997. Having had a family he eventually moved to Hanoi and sold the boat to the cruise company. It was quite an impressive piece of work and could easily have catered for three or four times as many passengers as were on board this day.
As we started to approach the numerous sea stacks and islands that seem to be the main attraction in Halong bay I started taking photos of them but the light wasn’t great and I was quite sure that with a grey and overcast sky and no light hitting the sea stacks I was wasting my time! It turned out I was absolutely right. Most of the photos taken on the outward part of the cruise were disappointing to say the least but things got better on the way back. After an hour or so on board, lunch was served. I can’t really remember too many details about the food except to say it was all delicious and we were certainly not left wanting. I must say at this point that prior to coming to Vietnam we hadn’t really known what to expect from the people here but Lynne and I are both agreed we can’t speak highly enough of them. Everyone we’ve had any kind of dealings with have been so nice! Having eaten, it wasn’t long before we reached a small rocky island and disembarked via the smaller boat which had been towed alongside the main boat/ship. We landed on a small sandy beach and set off walking to find the caves which were a major part of this cruise. Once inside, Bagh (I’ve added the ‘h’ so that it looks more like a name) explained that the caves were formed over 500 million years and that there were stalagmites and stalactites most of which were destroyed in ancient times by local fishermen because they proved inconvenient when they were sheltering from storms. Surely a sign of less enlightened times when people obviously weren’t aware and didn’t even consider that those stalagmites and stalactites had taken hundreds of thousands if not millions of years to form. As we had arrived in the caves there weren’t many people there but as we were attempting to leave there was a seemingly endless flow of (noisy) American tourists entering the cave. Eventually Bagh had to shout for them to wait outside so that we could exit, otherwise we might have been there all day as there didn’t seem any end to the flow of incoming people. Outside the cave we made our way back to the beach where we were helped into a kayak. Lynne sat in the front after Bagh had splashed the seat with water to cool it down for her. I was glad he didn’t do that with mine as I didn’t want a wet bum but then when I actually sat in my seat it almost burnt my little buttocks off! The sun was shining by then but I hadn’t realised until that moment just how hot it was. We set off to paddle around one of the other small islands with me doing most of the work. The paddles (oars?) were scooped on one side so it should have been obvious which way round they were meant to be but predictably, Lynne decided against all logic to use her’s the wrong way. Once we managed to get that sorted it was just a matter of co-ordinating our paddling (oaring?).
We thoroughly enjoyed our kayaking experience but alas it was over all too quickly and it was time to head back to the boat for the trip back to the harbour. As I’ve already said, the sun was shining by now and even though the light was a little harsh it made for much better photos on the way back.
We had a great afternoon sailing around Halong Bay and continue to be amazed by the magical and fantastical other worldly land/seascape of the region. The captain of the Nang Tien insisted on making a little speech before we all departed even though he didn’t speak any English. Bagh very kindly translated for us and it was the standard thank you for choosing our service, etc etc. Well, we considered ourselves lucky to have come across them. The whole crew and especially Bagh were very attentive throughout the trip. In fact Bagh might have been a little over the top with his obvious concern for our welfare. As we were making our way up the 70 or so steps into the caves he kept asking if we were alright and at one point he asked if we were tired. Obviously he was concerned about our ages which is nice but slightly irritating at the same time, neither Lynne nor I are in our dotage just yet. However we forgave him because he was such a nice guy. So nice in fact, that Lynne spent a good half hour talking to him alone at the front (pointy end) of the boat. I thought it was a bit like Kate Winslet and Leonardo Dicaprio in Titanic but it turned out she was just giving him a lecture on British politics! How boring is that?
Later that evening we ventured out again to take another look at a restaurant called Avocado Restaurant. We’d passed by the previous day but it was late afternoon and the place looked empty which as I had already mentioned, puts me off. This time it was later in the evening and the place still looked empty! However, having read such good reviews we decided to give it a go anyway. On entering we were taken upstairs to the main restaurant which explained why it always looked empty from outside. That being said, it was still fairly empty with only two tables occupied which seemed a shame as it was a lovely place and as we walked in the owner came to us and asked if we liked her restaurant. This was pretty typical of the kind of friendly approach we’ve encountered from the Vietnamese people. Even on the street if you catch their eye and smile they’ll invariably give you a smile back and say hello. Imagine that in the UK? Anyway, the food was fantastic as seems to be the case everywhere we’ve been and we had a wonderful evening. The perfect end to a perfect day!
Wandering Wildman 