Vietnam Part 2: A 3 Day Cruise along Halong Bay

After 3 days and nights in Hanoi we then set of for a 3 day, 2 night cruise along Halong Bay. We travelled for 3 hours in a mini bus which was sent to collect us, and a few other tourists, from our various hotels in Hanoi. We soon began to see the Rice Paddy fields at the side of the main roads as we left the hustle and bustle of Hanoi behind us and drove south towards Halong Bay.

Sprawling Halong City is the bay’s main gateway, but the raffish collection of modern highrise hotels and brightly lit karaoke bars is not a great introduction to this incredible UNESCO World Heritage Site, and very popular travel destination. Don't let that put you off. Once you board the motorboat that takes you out to your Cruise ship, you will see the magnificance of nature in all it's glory. The bay's key features are thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes - and you may also recall that this spactular scenery was also featured in a James Bond movie.

The collection of rocky islands sporadically sprouting up from the sea are said to resemble a serpent dragon, arching its back out of the water. According to local legend, when Vietnam had just started to develop into a country, they had to fight against many invaders. To assist the Vietnamese in defending their country, the gods sent a family of dragons as protectors. This family of dragons began spitting out jewels and jade. These jewels turned into the islands and islets dotting the bay, linking together to form a great wall against the invaders. With magic, numerous rock mountains abruptly appeared on the sea, ahead of invaders' ships; the forward ships struck the rocks and each other. After winning the battle, the dragons were interested in peaceful sightseeing of the Earth, and then decided to live in this bay. The place where the mother dragon descended was named Hạ Long.

The bay consists of a dense cluster of some 1,600 limestone monolithic islands each topped with thick jungle vegetation, rising spectacularly from the ocean. Several of the islands are hollow, with enormous caves. Hang Đầu Gỗ (Wooden stakes cave) is the largest grotto in the Hạ Long area. French tourists visited in the late 19th century, and named the cave Grotte des Merveilles. Its three large chambers contain large numerous stalactites and stalagmites (as well as 19th century French graffiti). We visited here on our last morning. Climing up the many stairs is a real effort, but its worth it - the views of the bay from the top of the caves are stunning - but the caves themselves are the real stars. They are huge and artistically lit so you can see all the natural beauty and be awed by the fact they have been here for millions of years.

A community of around 1,600 people live on Hạ Long Bay in four fishing villages. They live in floating houses and are sustained through fishing, cultivating pearls, and plying the shallow waters for 200 species of fish and 450 different kinds of mollusks. As part of our cruise, we visited a traditional fishing village and its heritage centre, which is trying to preserve this slowly dying ancient way of life, as the young go off to work on the land. We also visited a pearl farm and were shown how the special Halong Bay Pearls are cultivated and then made into beautiful pieces of jewelery.

Most visitors opt for tours that include sleeping on a boat in the bay for at least a couple of nights. We were on a modern style cruise ship called The Pelican and the facilities and staff were fantastic. We had a luxury cabin, with patio doors that opened up so we could sit and watch the scenery floating by as we relaxed.

During our cruise we had the chance to participate in a cookery demonstration and were taught how to make Spring Rolls by the chef. Each evening there was a "Happy Hour" at the cocktail bar, and it was wonderful to watch the sky slowly turn a beautiful shade of pink at sunset, whilst sipping on a refreshing Pina Colada. After dinner, guests had the chance to fish for squid from the back of the boat, watch a movie on board, or just enjoy the fresh air up on deck.

There were also activites like Kayaking on offer - or you could choose to be rowed through the caves and inlets by a local villager, on a tradional style boat. There was plenty of wildlife to see, including Birds of Prey and monkeys in the trees. We also visited a man-made beach where we got to disembark for half an hour and take a dip in the South China Sea.

On our second morning we awoke to find a monsoon had come in over night. The rain was torrential and it was very misty for most of the morning. We were going out on another boat to see the Pearl farm and fishing Village that day. We were given oilskin jackets and traditional conical hats to keep the rain off. It was still warm and humid, despite the rain, but it didnt spoil our day, and we still got to do everything that was on the itinary.

The food on the cruise was absolutley wonderful- from the sumptuous buffet breakfast in the morning - after a session on Tai Chi up on deck - through to a buffet lunch and a three course evening meal - you could not fault the staff for providing first class service and excellent food.

The rather sad thing about Halong Bay is that you have to share it with so many other tourists. There were at least 10 other boats cruising and mooring up each night along with ours, which spoils the view somewhat and sometimes you felt the bay was overcroweded. Tourism provides extra income for the people on the floating villages who live on the bay but it is also impinging on their tradional way of life and adding to the pollution in the area.

After 3 relaxing and peacful days cruising Halong Bay we were sad to leave The Pelican and go back to shore for the 3 hour drive back to Hanoi where we were staying for one more night. However the adventure continued further. The next day we were catching an internal flight from Hanoi down to the city of Hue.

WATCH PART ONE OF OUR EXCLUSIVE VIDEO ON HALONG BAY......