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Kayaking in Halong Bay, Vietnam
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No. of Halong Bay lovers:GETTING to Halong Bay in Vietnam’s northeast has been quite a journey.
It has taken almost four hours by road to cover the 180km from Hanoi, and all the while we are dodging a typhoon. Earlier in the morning our trip was canceled when authorities ordered all vessels out of the World Heritage-listed bay.
Kayaking Halong Bay, Vietnam
Disappointed, we console ourselves with the thought that while we might miss out on seeing one of the world’s most beautiful geographical treasures, we could always go shopping.
Then the captain of the junk calls to give the all-clear. The typhoon has changed course, yet again, and it is now safe to set sail.
Ha Long Bay is the leading candidate for Seven New Wonders of the World - an amazing, jaw dropping “have to see it to believe it” kind of place. And I had. Seen it. One year earlier, to be exact, while on a business trip and it amazing and my jaw did drop. I wanted S to experience the same thing and I was counting my blessings that I was going to see it again.
Normally we are on a tight, tight backpacker budget that forces us into fan cooled rooms with questionable stains on the walls, the sounds of the noisy street (or beach) keeping us awake. But for this, our one night (well, my second one night) on Ha Long Bay sleeping in a junk boat, for this we decided to splash out a bit. And what a difference that 20 extra dollars can make! The food on my trip last year had been good - a solid good. But this year…..just look.
The first course of lunch. We knew that things were looking good when this plate of humongous shrimp (I like to call’em shrimp) were set down in front of us. We peeled these guys and dipped them (who am I trying to kid? I bathed mine…) in the limey, salty peppery mixture you see at the top of this page.
I will let you in on a secret. I like eating squid, octopus and cuttlefish the most when they are purple. I have no idea why. When you place a plate of pale white calamari in front of me my stomach is like “nope” but when I see a piece of tako that is the color of concord grape juice something in my brain breaks and I become submissive to its charms.
Yes - we are still on lunch! You may recall that I am normally a vegetarian (an ass kicking’ food loving’ one) but on this trip I decided to eat fish because frankly, I think they are dicks. The wonderful staff on this boat made us an entirely proletarian 5-course meal. This was a lovely fish steak smothered in a sort of Vietnamese warm salsa - tomatoes, onions both spring and white, chili and of course, garlic.
Our boat was much nicer than our course backpacker senses were accustomed to. Every thing was dark wood polished to a high sheen - very posh.
We eyed the requisite karaoke machine with suspicion, knowing full well that all of the Da Lat wine and Ha Noi beer was going to loosen us up enough to give it a go. But first, a perfect simple photo of a cold towel in a little lacquered basket.
I am really at my very happiest when a meal begins with a vase of jumbo shrimp and some carved vegetable flowers. I want every meal to start with these things. Do not be surprised if you come to my house and I present you with a tall refreshing glass of shrimp and a carrot rosette before you’re even all the way in the door.
These were in served in a really light broth - mostly clam nectar and garlic and were very delicate and pretty, but….I have had a bad relationship with bivalves since a terrible, horrible, life changing-ly bad bout of food poisoning from mussels a few years ago. Only recently have I been able to even entertain the notion of placing a clam anywhere near my mouth - but these boys made the cut! Cautiously, mind you - I only ate about 5 and even then was terrified to go to sleep, as if they were little clam axe-murderers just waiting for me to relax and close my eyes.
For the grand finale: crab shells stuffed with crab cakes. Just when I was feeling a little riced out, a little accosted with lemongrass (I hate the stuff and am pummeled with it daily) they brought these little gems out. Now, I don’t harbor any notions that these are in any way Vietnamese other than the fact that the crab lived here, but let me tell you: I was one pinch of Old Bay Seasoning and a little pot of aioli away from sheer bliss.
I will always remember my first time to Ha Long Bay. I will remember the beauty, the eerie calm, the almost spooky way that the karts rock formations jut out from the murky sea. It was magic in the truest sense of the word.
But my second trip? I will think about those tiny limes, the plump shrimp, the delicate blush of an octopus tentacle, the meatiness of the rich crab meat.
And I’ll look you straight in the eye and tell you that the first time was more meaningful.
You’ll believe me, right?
Related to Ha long bay
I know its been a while since I last wrote! Been quite busy with traveling but here is an entry I should have posted ages ago!!!!
On Wednesday the 1st of July we set off for Ha long Bay, we booked a two night three day tour, on a Junk which only had five cabins therefore a maximum capacity of 10 people. A mini van came to pick us up at 8 am and we set off to Ha long city, halfway to Ha long city we stopped at this silk factory thing which sold a lot of souvenirs at very expensive prices, but it seems everyone stops there for the break so we just walked around in boredom for about 20 mins before setting off again. The journey from Hanoi to Ha long City took about three hours. We arrived at Ha long City and then waited for about 15 mins and then we were taken to our Junk!
Ha Long bay sunset by Indochina Sails
The Junk was great beautiful made out of dark wood; our cabin was really nice with big windows so we had a magnificent view as we were going! Soon after setting off lunch was served which was really nice but eating was the
Actually turned the boat a little woopp! Last thing on my mind as we started going the view was just so beautiful and I had no idea that it was going to be so beautiful! After lunch we relaxed a bit on the boat just watching the view and relaxing on the deck, in the afternoon we went to do a bit of kayaking and looking out for birds our guide knew all the birds and seemed to really love his job which was great.
Afterwards we went back to the boat again and relaxed and then we had dinner which was a whole selection of different things, each course was very well cooked and tasted great the only downside was that there wasn’t enough of it! After kayaking and being in the water everyone was very hungry!
The next morning we were up early to kayak again this time to get to a deserted beach where we were going to have a barbecue lunch we kayaked for about 2 hours and then arrived to this adorable tiny little beach where we settled down to have a swim (water was perfect!!) or relax and have a beer while the chef prepared the barbecue. The barbecue was delicious!!!
After that we went back on the boat and the boat started moving again to go to the place where we would stop for the night, the sunset was beautiful! Seeing the golden sky through the different islands around the bay was amazing!
Since that was our last night the crew made a special dinner for us once again the food was amazing and then they sang some songs for us which was great!
The next and last day of our Ha long Bay trip we went to a local fishing village, the company that we used has an agreement with the village and helps them financially as well as making them aware of the importance of keeping the area clean. At the fishing village we were rowed by locals in a little boat around the village where we got to see how life goes on in the village it was a great experience and the village was very pretty.
After that we went back onto the Junk had another swim having fun jumping off the boat deck etc, and then we started heading back to Ha long City. Back at Ha long City we got off the boat very sadly as we would have loved to stay on for longer, one of the most peaceful and beautiful tours we have done on our trip so far, it was amazing!
Source: Travel Blog
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