Sailing Halong Bay

Visiting Vietnam

There is nothing like the sights of thousands of limestone islands filling Halong Bay

Volume 3, Halong Bay

By: Danny Spitler

February 9, 2006

Halong Bay is a place that I started hearing about five or six years ago, not long after tourists began making their way back into North Vietnam. It is considered the “must see” site in all of Vietnam, and we were excited to be getting on our way.

We both slept reasonably well on the night train from Sapa. I guess if you travel enough, and sleep under enough different conditions, you can always adapt. We chugged into Hanoi at 5:30 in the morning and made our way around the corner from the train station and into another “short time” hotel. The tour agency had pre-arranged the room so the hotel clerk didn’t seem to mind when we woke him up from his cot in the middle of the lobby. He sleepily handed us a room key, we climbed a flight of stairs, looked into the room, and found it had a large bathtub. Without getting our hopes up we turned on the faucet and hot water came out……”YES.”

After soaking in a nice hot bath we were feeling human again when Phong arrived at 8:30 and introduced us to our new driver Mr. Quang. We headed to the Old Quarter and back to the Majestic Hotel where we got into our stored luggage. We tossed our long johns and warm clothes into the bags and pulled out t-shirts and sandals. Then we returned the bags to the bellboys and hit the road for Halong City. By now the Tet Holiday was either over or certainly winding down, because the city was getting back to business, which meant significantly heavier traffic, but Quang wasn’t shy about demonstrating that our Toyota was bigger and heavier than a motorcycle. He won every game of chicken that we played on our way out of the city.

Once we were out on the highway we passed miles of farmlands that were becoming beehives of activity. It was the season when the fields were being prepared for the baby rice plants, so there was plenty of muddy, back breaking labor being performed. Occasionally we would see a piece of equipment in a field, but the large majority of the work is still done by hand or with the help of a water buffalo.

At a roadside stand we stopped to restock our supply of Mandarin oranges, and we also picked up some pineapple. The whole pineapple had been sliced in quarters in such a way that you could hold it by the stem and eat it like a popsicle. Along our route between Hanoi and the ocean we passed dozens of factories and several others under construction. We recognized the names of many multi-national companies setting up manufacturing operations with large modern plants. Sorry Uncle Ho, it looks like capitalism is still alive and well, even within sight of your mausoleum.

We arrived at the dock, and Phong led us down concrete steps and pointed out our home for next 24 hours. It was a beautiful, old wooden Chinese junk with a wooden carved dragon’s head welcoming us onto the bow. A young man who looked to be about 17 years old welcomed us on board. We later found out that he was actually 22 years old and he was our boat captain. We were also pleased to learn that we had the boat to ourselves. It had two bedrooms, one for us and one for the crew. The dining room was also the wheelhouse, but the top deck was open for viewing and equipped with comfortable old wooden deck chairs.

As soon as we were safely on board the captain fired up the engine and we began negotiating our way out of the dock area. The heavy boat traffic in the harbor was handled pretty much like the automobile traffic in downtown Hanoi. You squeeze through whatever openings are available, and if the opening isn’t large enough then you play a game of bumper cars until you have managed to break free and get out of the harbor.

Once we were out in the bay and within sight of some of the 3000 plus limestone islands we anchored for lunch. Our young captain was a muti-tasker and switched to his role as headwaiter. He served us a delicious fish soup, cucumber salad, stir fried beef with vegetables, a whole crispy fried butterfish, and a large plate of fruit for dessert. We hoped there was a four man crew in the galley somewhere who would eat the half of the meal that we were too stuffed to touch.

After lunch we sailed for almost an hour before reaching the limestone islands that make this area such a unique place in the world. The photos that we had seen in the guidebooks were taken in bright morning sunshine, but we were arriving in an afternoon mist. The effect was almost mesmerizing as more and more of the islands, each with its own unique shape and dimensions, began to appear out of the misty shroud.

We docked at one of the islands and climbed a concrete stairway to explore a large cave. It wasn’t the size or grandeur of a Carlsbad or Kartchner, but it was pretty impressive. The views from the mouth of the cave were special as we gazed at some of the wooden junks with their sails unfurled.

Next we sailed to another popular island with a pagoda sitting at the very top. Phong told us that Ho Chi Minh had visited the island with one of Vietnam’s war hero pilots. The pagoda was then built and named after the pilot. Looking up at the pagoda sitting at the top of the island I decided that this was a worthy workout challenge. Pam wished us well and found a good “people watching” spot while Phong and I assaulted the 425 steps to the top of the island. The pagoda at the top provided another set of wonderful views as the sun began to set.

We hoofed it back down the steps and onto our junk just in time to pull away from the island as the sun dropped into the ocean. I had just enough time to snap a photo of my very favorite sunset model.

As darkness started to set in we anchored our vessel and relaxed. The local convenience market paddled by in the form of a small boat loaded with a variety of goods for sale. We negotiated a package of Oreo cookies for the astronomical fee of $3. Then we showed Phong and the crew how to pull them apart and lick the icing. Gotta teach these folks basic American culture you know.

We were still full from the huge lunch so we could have skipped dinner altogether, but that wasn’t a part of the program. Dinner arrived – Vegetable soup, French fries, spring rolls, rice, pork balls in tomato sauce, squid with vegetables, stir fried cabbage, spinach, and fresh pineapple for dessert. We learned that the young captain makes a salary of about $50 per month, but at least he eats well, assuming that he doesn’t mind a lot of leftovers.

The next morning we spent several hours cruising through the many islands. The morning mist burned off and we had some intermittent sunshine as we cruised along. We eventually arrived at a floating village where Phong pointed out some school buildings that served the children that lived out on the bay, where there families mainly worked at fishing. Then we sailed back to Halong City, gave our Captain and his assistant a generous tip, and met Quang who had spent the night in the city. We had another 7-course lunch at a local restaurant and then started the three-hour drive back to Hanoi.

On the drive back we stopped at a large handicraft store. The store was mainly staffed with both salespeople and artisans who were young people with physical disabilities. Phong told us that many of the young people had birth defects some of which were believed to be because their fathers had been soldiers during the war and exposed to Agent Orange. We supported the shop by picking up several very nice ceramic, hand painted dolls. Oops, guess I gave away the family’s Christmas gifts this year.

Back in Hanoi we sent clothes out for express laundry and planned our packing for another adventure the following day. We were headed back into the country to the region of Ba Be Lake. But, while we had access to our hotel services we took advantage of the massage facilities. The hotel’s second floor was set up as a spa area with a sauna and Jacuzzi pool along with plenty of facilities for foot and body massages. The one-hour massages cost $5 for a foot massage (which included some attention to arms and shoulders), and $10 for a full body Thai style massage. Needless to say, on any day that we were at the hotel with an hour to spare, this is where you could find us.

Stay tuned for another tribal village experience.