Strictly speaking, I think it should be written “Hą Long Bay”. But who’s checking? After several days in fairly dismal, industrial surroundings, the Bay is looking positively enchanting! Our first views of the “mountainous” scenery were superb.
I don’t think we had fully realised just how unscenic the river trip had been. Sadly, while the bay we are now entering is enchanting to us, it’s also enchanting to zillions of other cruise boats and day trippers! I counted over 200 before I gave up!
There is a channel that seems to be a one way system. But this is Vietnam, so that rule is not universally adhered to!
There are, apparently, 1,969 islands in the Bay. But that, of course depends on how one defines an island. When is a rock an island? Anyway, suffice it to say that there are lots! And many of them are amazingly dramatic.
The islands were formed over a period of 500 million years through a slow process of limestone sedimentation, tectonic uplift, and intense erosion. Tropical rain and fluctuating sea levels carved massive limestone platforms into hundreds of karst towers and caves. The area was finally submerged during the Holocene period (7,000–11,000 years ago) to create the iconic, jungle-covered, steep limestone islands seen today.
In the afternoon we are transferred by small motor boats into a system of marine caves in the archipelago on the north east coast of Cát Bà, the largest island in the Bay.
The caves led into a land-locked “cauldron” open to the skies above. Very pretty! Very unusual! Reunited with our ship, we back-tracked a bit to the north side of the island…
… to find a parking space for the night
As night falls, and the sun sets, half of the boats (the day-trippers) disappear off home. But that still leaves a lot of holes in the water!
The sun rises next morning over a tranquil scene …
After breakfast …
… served by our two waiters, Duy and Salai…
… we re-back-tracked round Cát Bà once again. We have a land-based excursion today into the centre of the island. We dropped anchor off Viêt Hái and transferred to land by a small local ferry for a three and a half mile electric buggy trip to an inland village. A number of us took the opportunity to make the trip by bicycle.
Single-gear rattlers! Luckily there were only a couple of uphill sections! … and, as it turned out, the village was only just over two miles inland! And here we are surprised again at the contrast of the neat vegetable plots …
… and the generally untidy old houses. (Although, to be fair, this was more of a showcase village in the middle of a UNESCO site and therefore rather more tidy than usual!) There were trees covered in pomelos, a sort of mega grapefruit, which, in my opinion are nowhere near as nice flavoured as their smaller relations.
There were lots of brightly coloured butterflies most of which were too flighty to be photographed …
… and there were dozens of hawks (probably some kind of kite) hunting in the fields and shrubs.
The road was lined with Areca palms. The source of the famous betel nuts.
These nuts are chewed, together with slaked lime and betel leaves, for their stimulant and narcotic effects. However, they are banned in Australia, and have been declared as a group 1 carcinogen to humans. The active ingredient in betel nut, arecoline, is a Schedule 4 poison. Using betel nut with tobacco also increases the risk of developing oral cancers.
Back to the dock to re-embark and to re-re-backtrack again round the east side of Cát Bà. First stop a floating fish-farm.
It’s OK darling, they aren’t going to eat you if you fall in … probably … and anyway I’ve got the camera ready!
Next stop was a beach party a bit further north round Cát Bá at Three-peach island. Cocktails and guitar music (courtesy of Liz) with a proposal for swimming (taken up in a tentative sort of way by one of our team and enthusiastically by several members of the crew).
Later that night, the water supply tanker came alongside and refilled our tanks.
The whole crew joined us on the main deck for a closing party. Brief speeches of thanks followed by a bit of singing and dancing!
And apart from one sleep, that was the end of the cruise. On the final morning after sailing a total of about 775 km, we transferred to docking station 24 and the whole crew came ashore to say goodbye – and to make sure we had left them in peace for a night with no customers on board.
I have to say that the ship was excellent, small but excellent. And so was the crew, small but extremely helpful. All of them. The actual cruise, however, for us, perhaps spent rather too much time in the somewhat un-scenic inland waterways. However, this did allow for some extremely interesting excursions. And this enabled us to access the “non-touristic” local towns and villages on the way. Here we got to sample the “real Vietnam” and to experience how the villagers lived and worked under the communist government. Incidentally, a few days after we left Vietnam, the country was holding nation-wide elections. We are still a little unsure how that works when there is only one party to vote for! I’m going to have to check later to see who won!
On balance, I think we were pleased we did the trip downstream ending in the Bay. The best scenic memories (for us) at the end of the tour.