Visiting a Natural Wonder - Ha Long Bay

Our night train from Sa Pa to Hanoi arrived in that magical time of morning (4:30am) when the streets are quiet and mostly empty. The only people awake are delivery people or those opening shops to prepare for the morning breakfast rush. Since our hotel was only a little more than a mile away from the train station, we decided to walk back and admire the empty streets and silence of the pre-dawn hour.

At the hotel, we woke the night guards, found a couch and conked out for another hour before the hotel guests started coming down from their rooms and breakfast commenced. Around 8am we got herded onto a small tour bus and began our 3.5 hr drive to Ha Long Bay.

Ha Long Bay (Descending Dragon Bay) is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of The World’s New Seven Great Wonders of Nature. The Bay is about 600 sq. mi. and contains thousands of limestone karats and isles in a variety of shapes and sizes. The monolithic islands jut up from the Bay everywhere and are covered in a dense jungle. On sunny days (which we unfortunately didn’t get) the azure water coupled with the lush green islets make Ha Long Bay appear as if you dropped into paradise (you just have to ignore the few hundred other tours boats surrounding you).

The area is a huge tourist destination where visitors sign up to take 1, 2, and 3 day cruises on Junk Boats. The junk boats are small cruise ships that house 15-50 passengers, transport you to different caves, beaches, and islands to explore; provide meals and entertainment, and make the trip the perfect little getaway.

Em and I decided that the idea of a floating tour around this beautiful place was a great way to end our trip and to spend New Year’s Eve. Our boat was called Lavender Cruise and is only one of hundreds of junk boats and mini cruise ships that are scattered around the bay. Most of the boats only go to the same locations, so, while it is peaceful, it’s still congested with traffic and tourists from all over.

We arrived at the boat around noon, dropped our bags in our room, and headed to lunch to meet the rest of our shipmates. Our boat contained us, a set of siblings from Spain, three friends from India, and a group of 15 Korean tourists that are all part of the same church group and arrived in identical t-shirts (one shirt for the men, and one for the women). Everyone was nice enough, but most stuck to their own groups.

After lunch, we boarded a small boat and motored over to Ti-Top Island. This island was a named after Russian cosmonaut Gherman Stepanovich Titov, after he visited it with Ho Chi Minh in 1962. When Ti-Top died, the Vietnamese erected a stature of him on the island. Nowadays, tourists can climb the 400 stairs to a nice lookout point or go swimming in the small beach. Since we arrived there around the time every other ship was getting there, it was a little crowded and our trip up the stairs to the viewpoint was slow going. Even though there was no sun and the Bay was cloaked in a layer of grey, it was still amazing to see the different islands dappled all over. 

With just enough time to climb to the top, elbow a space at the edges of the overlook station for a few photographs, and then maneuver our way back down to the beach, and subsequently, the boat; we headed for a small enclave accessible by kayak or coconut boat. Em and I opted for a kayak and enjoyed the freedom to go at our own pace. Inside the ring of small jungle mountains was Monkey Island. We were able to watch the monkeys scaling the limestone cliffs and nibbling on food tourists had tossed to them. They were adorable, but Em didn’t like that I kept steering us closer and closer. I think she was afraid the monkeys would try to hitch a ride on our kayak.

Back on the Lavender, we learned how to make traditional egg rolls, had a scrumptious dinner, and retired to our rooms until 10pm when the boat hosted a mini New Year’s Eve celebration. Somewhere here, they teach all the chefs how to make amazing designs with fruits and vegetables. There were flowers made from cucumbers, carrots, and radishes. Flower designs and Happy New Year’s carved elegantly into watermelons, and somewhere, someone bought or made a cake. The presentation was excellent and everyone took turns photographing the display.

We pretended that 10:30pm was Midnight because everyone said they’d be too tired at true midnight to celebrate, but after some wine and cake, the dancing began and we were all awake for the “ball drop” (which on Ha Long Bay meant all the boats tooted their horns and some flashed their lights on and off). It was a fun and low key evening.

Splitting From the Herd

Except for Em and I, everyone else on our boat had only purchased a 2 day, 1 night package on the Bay, so at 7:30 we said goodbye to them and hopped on a small ferry for a day trip deeper into the Bay, while everyone else had a different itinerary. We ended up on a small day trip both with about 12 other people, two of which were a British couple (Daniel and Becky) we’d meet while kayaking the evening before. The four of us instantly got along and stayed a posse for the day.

Our day tour took us to another cave and then kayaking to a hidden beach (you kayak to the front and then walk through a cave to get to the beach). We all had the option to swim, but the sun never materialized and the wind was blowing with bite. We decided not to venture into the waves.

The cave and beach were fun and it was great that there were a lot less tourists, but that’s where our 2nd day activities kind of ended, which was super depressing. We had lunch on the day boat, were dragged to an Oyster Farm where they wanted us to buy jewelry, and then returned to our big Lavender Cruise boat. We had been told that there would be some hiking or a chance to ride a bike through one of the villages on one of the bigger islands. When I asked the tour guide about those activities, he told me that I’d picked the wrong trip for those. I never received a choice so I didn’t know there were two itineraries. 

The other problem was that all the people staying on the boat today are different than those from yesterday, but they’re repeating the itinerary from yesterday. That meant that we first had to chill on the boat for hours while they went to Ti-Top island and then kayaking, and then we repeated the dinner egg roll making, and had the same meal for dinner. If we’d of known that the second day would be almost a complete repeat of the first day, we wouldn’t have booked the second night and instead either stayed in town, stayed in Hanoi longer, or tried to visit one other location. I guess you live and you learn and next time we’ll hopefully know better. On the upside, the passengers on the second night turned out to all be very friendly and so we had a pleasant evening chatting with a British couple, some siblings from India, two friends from Kazakhstan, a girl from Greece, and a foursome from German.

Surprise Cave

Our third morning on the boat started with a trip to Surprise Cave. The cave  was a lot bigger than any of the other caves we’d seen so far on the Bay. It had three chambers and and the tour companies created a one way path to walk tourists through. Unfortunately, like a lot of things in Ha Long Bay, it was super packed. We either needed to have arrive at 7am or after 8 (we were there around 7:30, with everyone else) as this is an activity the majority of the boats take their passengers to on their last day at sea.

After returning from Surprise Cave, we checked out of our room and spent the two hour boat trip back to shore admiring the views from the top deck. We never saw sun on our trip, but the grey overcast added a mysterious component to all the mini islands and had a beauty of its own.