We are back in Hanoi after a three day cruise on Halong Bay - certainly one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. There are almost 2000 islands in Halong Bay, which is only 1500 square kilometers. So, you can imagine it’s quite a sight…
(Pictures to follow).
We were on a beautiful boat with 3 other couples, who were unbelievably lovely. Our guide, Hao, was an amazing historian, and we learned a lot about the history of the Bay and of northern Vietnam. Fooooooooor example:
- Halong means “descending dragon” in Vietnamese. Legend has it that long ago, when the area was being invaded, God sent a family of dragons down to protect the Viet people. As the dragons flew down through the sky, they spit pearls from their mouths into the Bay. The pearls became the islands of Halong Bay. Those islands were originally arranged in a wall, protecting the mainland. However, fighting caused the wall to break apart, leaving the islands as they are today. The dragons found the bay so beautiful that they decided to stay. Thus, “Descending Dragon Bay”.
Our first day on the boat we visited a floating village. The village was established 100 years ago, when local fisherman could no longer afford to purchase land to live on. Instead, they set up their homes in the calm, emerald waters of the Bay. The village is small, which is nice, as most things in Vietnam tend to be overcrowded. It consists of floating houses, linked together by docks. The men fish all day and the women stay at home and mind the nets of fish they have kept near their houseboats. All of the houseboats are very small, and one - amazingly - is a school for the children. However, the school only teacher up to the age of five. After this the children must go to the mainland for further studies.
The rest of the day was spent swimming (with Dan and I diving off of the boat like excited children on a high dive) in the beautiful waters and sailing through the islands. We were all blown away by the sheer number of islands dotting the horizon. We had an amazing meal (even me!), watched the sunset, and fell asleep to the lapping of the water.
NOT BAD.
Day 2 was spent sailing and kayaking to a cave and into a lagoon. We swam on an island beach before heading back to the boat and sailing to Cat Ba Island. We stayed at (unexpected - big time) the nicest resort/hotel/thing I have ever seen - where we had the honeymoon suite (nooo comments from the peanut gallery, please). It was very swank. Lovely dinner - again I had all the fruits and veggies I could want! Talked into the wee hours with our friends from Barcelona, and slept through a beautiful passing rainstorm.
Today was our last day of the trip. We had a great breakfast (can I emphasize enough how excited I get when there’s stuff I can eat?) and decided to explore Cat Ba National Park with our Barcelona friends, Hannah and Angel. We all got on the back of motorbikes and took a long beautiful ride through some amazing country side, lush being an understatement. On the way to our hike, we stopped at a cave up in the hills. This cave was turned into a hospital from 1965 to 1975, when a certain country was bombing the hell out of them… At first it looks like an ordinary cave, but you enter through a small door in the back and open up into a structure built into the mountains. Talk about VAST - I mean, the thing just opens up into this secret facility that spans into the mountain for quite a ways. Apparently, some Chinese were in Cat Ba to help the Vietnames fight the “American War” and they built the hospital with them. There’s even a swimming pool inside the mountain that the doctors and nurses used to work out and stay fit. Last cave fact: when the Americans would bomb the island, the entire town of Cat Ba Island would come and hide in the cave. Pretty impressive.
In the Park, we hiked a steep, muddy, wild trail up the the summit of a mountain where there was a large lookout tower. The views (as you will see when we can download some pictures) were spectacular. What was not spectacular was the hike back down, which was like an Indiana Jones movie in slow motion, with mudslides, swinging on vines, and a couple of awesome falls (me). I looked pretty awesome when we got to the bottom though. Imagine rolling in feces. Tada!
Finished the trip with a swim in the pool at the resort - swank - left via ferry, then bus, and have just gotten back to Hanoi. We’re wiped out, but also invigorated. Starting to talk about our apartment hunting in NY, about getting to see our lovely Gabe and Sara in LA again, and seeing the trip begin its last leg. We’ll fly to Ho Chi Minh City tomorrow and then it’s Cambodia for the big finale: Ankor Temples…
What a wild ride this continues to be. If you’ve made it through my rambling, I owe you a beer. We love you.
Besos.
