HALONG BAY:
Halong Bay was every bit as spectacular as I had heard, but it was disappointingly cold, wet and dreary for almost my entire stay. At first I welcomed the cold overcast and misty conditions as "atmospheric" and a welcome respite from the sweltering tropical heat of the south, but then guiltily I began to wish for a warm sunny day so I go for a swim and enjoy the fabulous beaches of Lan Ha bay. Yes, yes I know November is winter in the north of Vietnam but usually winter doesn't arrive in Halong until December at the earliest and the locals all said it was an extremely severe and unseasonable cold snap the area was mired in during my stay. And to think a friend of mine convinced me to mail back my jeans and my long-sleeve undershirt because I wouldn't need them in southeast asia. Oh jeans why did I spend $35 to mail you away and now I shiver while picking through stacks of size 26 fake Dolce & Gabana bedazzled, embroidered disco jeans! Oh look, here's a nice pair! Oh crap, why is there a embroidered gold tiger on the leg and a gigantic streak of pink paint on the back pockets? I bought a long sleeve shirt two sizes two small with shiny metallic stripes and studded black strips of leather sewn to it in a desperate attempt to wart off the cold.
I choose not to do a package Halong bay tour out of Hanoi despite their popularity and tempting pricing. I had heard good things about Halong Bay's more comely and less touristed twin, Lan Ha Bay, and I had heard good things about small independent operators doing sailing, rock climbing, kayaking and even camping out of Cat Ba island (largest island in Halong bay area) so I didn't want to be locked into a quick cheesy loop of the Halong area tourist traps. I arranged for a one day tourist boat ride through the main sights of Halong bay that would then drop me on Cat Ba to fend for myself in the evening. The bus to Halong City was a pain but once the boat ride finally got under way it was very nice and I enjoyed our stop at a very crowded cave that had been modified to make it more tourist friendly and lit with fluorescent lights. It sounds terrible but it was really cool.
Once I made it to Cat Ba I settled into a guest house that Lonely Planet raved about but it was an absolute T.S.-hole and I was too cheap and lazy to move after making a beachhead on top of the dirty bed with my tent. I nearly froze to death in that unheated room. I think a sleeping bag may have been a better use of weight and space than the thermarest I packed. While on Cat Ba I did a good bit of business with the "Slo-Pony" adventure company located in my hotel (very convenient) The folks at Slo-Pony were awesome and I would highly recommend them to anyone considering going rock climbing around Halong Bay, which by the way is excellent for climbing. Slo Pony also offers other activities and kayaking trips which I also booked with them, but I would advise anyone reading the coconut to stick to the climbing as that is their forte and passion.
So one day chilling (literally) on the tourist boat, two days climbing, one day kayaking and one day touring Cat Ba on a motorbike. Cat Ba is pretty big and the scenery is amazing. The sun finally came out for my last day and I got some pretty good shots. I was riding with a guide I accidentally hired for the day (I just wanted someone to let me into hospital cave) so I didn't get to stop quite as much as I wanted for photographs and of course you start to feel silly taking pictures when a Vietnamese motorcycle guide stares at you with a slightly confused smirk while you attempt to get that perfect artistic shot of a goat.
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I've been a bad little blogger. Sorry the Coconut has strayed from the path. My posts tonight are going up thin, rushed and mostly without photo captions, and I am shorting my readers an entry on Hanoi. Hanoi is a mad but wonderful little city with loads of charms, put-offs, worst traffic and smog than Saigon, surprises, idiosyncrasies etc, but my readers will have to wait a bit longer to hear all about it I'm afraid. Tomorrow morning I leave on an adventurous three or four day motorcycle ride through the Tokinese Alps to the Laos border followed by a bus trip then two days on a boat rolling down the Mekong through the green canyons of northwestern Laos until I reach Luang Prabang. I will likely be out of electronic earshot for the next week or so as I undertake my most challenging bit of traveling yet. Wish me luck and please accept these pictures as a peace offering.
Beach on Cat ba
There's a monkey in there if you look closely
Look Mom a real Chinese style Junk just like in Snoopy's Big Book of Boats! I'm pretty sure Halong Bay was the setting in the book as well. The Junk/Halong Bay was my favorite part of the book along with the Gondola/Venice.
In a kayak inside a cave
View looking out from Cat Ba harbor at night. In the foreground is two floating restaurants, in the background you can see the Cat Ba fishing armada illuminated by its fun house fluorescent lights. At first I thought the lights belonged to a theme park located on an island behind the restaurants. The fluorescent lights themselves are very Dan Flavin-esque.
END
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