March 8, 2015 – Ha Long Bay.
The minibus trip to Haiphong Harbor was uneventful. It’s a commercial harbor, very busy as it services most of north Vietnam, but there isn’t a lot to see for tourists. But there is also a section reserved for tour boats, as Ha Long Bay is very popular. We’re booked into a three-day, two-night tour that includes one overnight on the boat and one overnight in Cat Ba, which is a town on an island out there somewhere.
We’ve been travelling with our fellow tour-people since leaving downtown Hanoi, and everyone is curious to see the accommodations on the boat. While it’s an older wooden boat, it appears to be in good shape and well-maintained. When the steward showed us to our cabin, we discovered that we had the entire arse end of the boat, including a stateroom and a stern patio! Luck of the draw, I guess.
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Our happy little crew. Note the rain gear. Temp is in the teens, and it’s ‘misty’.
Not roughing it, I guess.
We can do this.
It’s a one-hour steam from Haiphong to the beginning of the interesting stuff. Ha Long is a series of limestone islands, with classic karst topography where water has dissolved the rock into dramatic shapes, with lots of caves. There are no beaches, as the rock doesn’t grind down into sand; it just dissolves.
Deb is preparing for the rigours of the journey.
Rock. Hole. Not climbing up there.
In a few more years, we’ll be able to drive the boat through there!
This is a ‘village’. These are live-in boats for the people working and living out there.
Our first stop is a large cave complex that has been ‘civilized’ with lights and walking paths. The entry is quite close to sea-level, and the path takes visitors for about a kilometer until it exits about two hundred meters above sea-level.
It’s a big cave. The sight-lines were often fifty to one hundred meters. It was difficult to take pictures that did it justice.
There were numerous formations to see, and the lights were positioned to emphasize them.
Note the people in the lower right for scale.
The view from the cave exit. You can see the boat dock, where we walked along the float to the entrance.
The combination of size, beauty, and ease of access made it easily the best cave we’ve ever been in! Many boats come out to the cave and return to Haiphong as a day-trip, and if that’s all the time you have, it’s well worth it. We’re lucky to be here for longer, so now it’s time to head over to our anchorage for the night and to get some food into us.
This is our pretty little spot for the evening, totally protected by surrounding islands.
Sleepy time.
The next morning, it was time to steam over to Cat Ba Island, which has a town named Cat Ba, which is where Deb and I will be staying for the night. We leave the rest of our group at the Cat Ba dock, as they will be headed back to Haiphong after dropping us off.
Bon voyage!
Cat Ba Island looks like something out of Jurassic Park. Very lush, very wild. The road is one-lane gravel, and everyone makes way for each other when they meet. It’s a half-hour drive from the anchorage to the town, so we get a good look at it!
Dinosaur country.
Rebuilding the road by hand.
Cat Ba Bay.
This is the only significant land-based community out here. It has several mid-rise hotels, and there’s lots of shops and restaurants. It’s very quiet right now, as it’s a summer-oriented destination and it’s still early spring. It would be a beautiful place on a sunny day!
Our room is clean and modern, with a floor-to-ceiling front window looking out on the bay. It’s very nice. It’s early afternoon by now, and we went for a two-hour walk which pretty much encompassed the entire town and seaside.
The next morning, it was back on the bus, across the island, onto the boat, and back through the maze of islands to Haiphong harbor. And we were back in downtown Hanoi in time for dinner, and then off to our hotel for the evening. Tomorrow morning we head west into the mountains to Sa Pa!
This boat needs a pirate flag.
Our best view of the trip, as the mist finally clears enough for a longer-distance shot. It’s a gorgeous place to visit, do it if you get the chance!