Hello Halong Bay

So right after our Sapa trip we headed out to the majestic and mysterious Halong Bay for a three day cruise.  Halong Bay consist of over 3000 incredible islands rising from the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin.  Many Vitenamese myths have been associated with Halong Bay, as the world "halong" translates to " where the dragon descends into the sea".  The legend is that their was a great dragon that charged the coast and its vicious tail gouged out valleys and crevasses.  When the dragon finally disappeared it left behind what today we call Halong Bay.

Checking out the views

The bay itself is so impressive, just looking out to sea and seeing nothing but limestone islands jetting out of the sea is something that never gets old.  As we boarded our boat we realized that our $20 a day for three days (which included food, transport and lodging) was an amazing deal.  Our boat was so nice, it had a rustic look to it, but it was a new boat made out of bamboo and wood.  Very nice.  

The bay and the boats.

Showing off the nice cabin

The first day we spent admiring the beautiful sights, exploring the ancient cave that the dragon lived in, kayaking around the beautiful islands/bays and hanging out with the rest of the people in our group.  We couldn't of asked for a nicer day as the sun was shinning and the wind was giving us a little pleasant breeze.  The day was spectacular and ended with a incredible seafood supper followed by some beer Hanoi with the rest of the group.

Captain Missie

   

Floating village (catch fish and maintain fish farms)

Close up

The next day we woke up to the sun shinning once again! We docked at the Cat Ba island,

a provincial island, where we were to do a rewarding hike and sleep in a 4 star hotel.  (we were "suppose" to stay in a hotel, maybe should of!)  The hike/climb was nice as we had a wonderful panoramic view of the entire bay.  After that we continued on and headed out to a secluded island that only had one beach on it, which was only 150 meters long and just recently had a restaurant and 8 bamboo bungalows built. (only 1 month ago)  As we arrived at the island it was so amazing.  Seriously there was only 4 people on the island and one monkey, so they told us, which later proved to be true.  Anyway we all ate a great lunch at the island and then our tour guide told us that if anyone wanted we could stay on the remote island (which as of now has no public boat going in or out) or we just could continue on and stay in the 4 star hotel.  Right away Missie and I looked at each other and said were staying on the island.  Only one other couple decided to stay, so there was 8 people to stay there with the monkey.  When the group left to go to their hotel on Cat Ba island (which is very big) we stayed behind marooned on the island, as our tour guide said that a boat will pick us up at 8 am the next morning.  So we grab a kayak and went exploring around all the other islands and even ran into two fishermen who were on a old raft, eating completely raw squid and crab.  They offered us some so we ate them up! just joking, we past and told them that we would get sick with a big smile, cause they never understood one word of what we said.

After our kayaking we just laid on our private beach, then suddenly a fricken monkey casually strolls by us, paused and said "Whats up"...well he didn't actually say it but I know he was thinking it.  The monkey was no little bugger, he had some serious weight to him, I bet like 40 pounds.  Missie kinda had a little fun with him as she was taking some pictures of him.  Not sure he likes pictures though.  Anyway the rest of the evening we spend laying of the beach reading, talking, drinking vodka, taking pictures of the sunset and simply enjoying life.  Missie was taking some really good pictures of the sunset, but the darn monkey was guarding the beach where she was taking the pictures from.  So she was tip-toeing around him until he gave her a look like, "lady if you don't move I am going to pretend you are the biggest tastiest banana I have ever eaten" so Missie moved further down the beach, well away from Mr. Grump monkey.  I was reading my book when I her a big " AAAAAHHHHHH i look and the grumpy monkey was right there at Missie's feet, she just turned and ran as the monkey just stared at her as she ran.  It was so funny, the monkey walked  over 70 feet ( so quietly  ) just to scare her!  

The monkey!

Then it was bed time in our lovely bran new bungalow, with aircon, hot shower and even soap dispensers.  What a night! A wonderful sunset, great meal, and only shared between 8 people and one other animal, the monkey.  So we thought.  Around 3 am we both started hearing some strange noises, sounding like something was in our room or very close.  I said, " Missie its the monkey, and he coming to pay you back again!"  we turned on the lights and saw hanging right above us, not a monkey(I wish) but a nice big, ugly, hairy, long tailed, blacked eyed, long toed nailed.......RAT!  Yup. a rat.  So there we were huddled together staring at the rat as he dangled above us...with no where to go.  Long story short, we saw 4 ugly rats and stayed up all night scaring rats out of our bungalow.  What a night.  Anyway it was a beautiful island and we enjoyed it greatly and the Halong Bay trip was awesome.

take care