Halong Bay- Truly amazing!

Halong Bay...oh yea

We opted to book a 3 day, 2 night junk boat tour of Halong Bay. Our first night would be spent on the boat and the second night on Cat Ba Island. And so after a cramped 3 hour bus ride, we boarded our junk boat. After lunch we traveled to a beautiful cave. Inside, colored lights illuminated the massive formations. The entrance to the cave overlooked Halong Bay and gave us a good sense of the area.

Busy bay at the entrance to the caves

One of the stunning formations in the cave

After touring the cave we spent some time kayaking the waters together. It was lovely and relaxing. The only problem was that our tour guide failed to tell us where to go when we were finished kayaking. So of course we assumed we would drop off the kayaks where we picked them up. After 30 minutes our aching muscles gave out on us and we returned to the floating dock where we had begun. Peering around, we saw no one from our boat. In fact, our junk boat was no where to be seen either. Five minutes passes, then ten. Miguel and I wonder if we should start to worry. There are only 15 people on our junk boat so we figure surely someone will notice we are not there and they will have to return for us. So Miguel ( I've been calling him this for weeks now so it's not so strange anymore) starts haggling with the local sales women for beer. He ends up getting 2 cold bottles of beer for 20,000 dong ($1.11 USD). Not bad considering these poor women have to load all their product into these tiny boats and row it out to their consumers! It is a hard life these people live. Finally, as Miguel and I really begin to worry about finding our junk boat, the rest of our party returns! Oh joy... we wouldn't have to sleep on a floating dock after all. Eventually our boat returned for us all as well. Where it disappeared to we will never know as our guide refused to tell us.

During the day's lunch hour we got to know a man named Udam quite well. He's a sculptor from California who is interested in art. Born in central Vietnam, he came to America with his parents in 1994, at age 23, to earn a better education.

We shared a lovely evening on top of our junk boat visiting with Udam and enjoying the surroundings. The moon was nearly full, illuminating the giant land formations that jutted out of the water all around us. We spoke of art, Obama, the USA, the economy and life over wine and beer. All the while our eyes feasted on the sights and stars of Vietnam. It was a special evening and one I will remember for a very long time. That night Miguel slept on top of the boat under the stars. I slept in our cramped, wooden room which smelt strongly of gas (had I realized this earlier I would have joined Miguel up top).

We awoke day two and after breakfast Miguel began snapping photos. Just then my vision began to get fuzzy.

"Miguel, I think I'm getting a migraine," I strained.

Sure enough, five minutes later there were large, black holes entering my vision. Immediately I popped 3 pills and sat down. Twenty minutes later the pain was hitting in full force. I just kept thinking 'Oh please not now. Just don't throw up. Keep the medication down and you'll get through this.'

About an hour later my head is wrything in pain. I want nothing more than to get out of the sun, the bright light growing brighter by the minute. I know I have to get off the boat. I see land. Unsteadily, we exit the boat, Miguel now carrying my backpack and his. Miguel and I are now separated from our group and taken to a rickety, old bus. Miguel explains to the new tour guide that I am sick and must go to a hotel at once.

"No trekking on Monkey Island for you?" the guide inquires.

"No, no trekking for us today. We must go directly to our hotel," my savior of a husband responds.

He understands and away we go on the worst, seemingly endless bus ride I have ever endured. The bus wreaked of gasoline, contributing to the nausea I was already feeling. The gravel roads were narrow, winding and relentless. Clutching a plastic bag I did everything to keep my breakfast down. I focused on breathing slowly and deeply from my mouth, as the gasoline smell was overpowering. I kept my eyes shut tightly as the sun was so incredibly bright. Somehow, miraculously we arrived at our hotel an hour later. I took another pain killer and collapsed on the bed into a drug induced oblivion.

I woke hours later to Miguel and a Vietnamese women unloading dishes filled with food onto the table in our hotel room. Groggy and confused I looked around wondering where I was. In a hazy, disoriented voice I asked Miguel what was going on.

Too cheerily he responds, "Look honey, I had them bring up your lunch for you! You have to keep your strength up."

Meanwhile my head aches dully and I feel as if I've been sleeping for days. I spend the rest of the day reading in our hotel room and trying to feel normal again. Thank goodness we ended up in a clean hotel room with air conditioning or I don't know if I would have made it.

Day three I wake up feeling almost normal and we reboard the junk boat to set back to Halong city. I'm sad that we missed hiking through Money Island, but relieved the migraine didn't turn out worse.

As it turns out our friend Udam told us that the monkeys there aren't the most pleasent beasts.

"You are basically ambushed from all angles by monkeys trying to steal anything they can get their paws on," he explained.

"The last time I was here I had to carry a stick with me to fend them off. My 10 year old niece was bitten and spent 7 days in a Vietnamese hospital from the infection. I hate monkeys," he later confessed.

The journey back presents more of the same gorgeous land formations floating on calm water. The only negative thing i can say about the view is the trememdous amount of trash the boat plows through periodically. It's sad to see such a beautiful area spoiled by humans this way. I find myself wishing they could have provided me with a net so I could help clean the polluted waters of Halong Bay.

Overall, I have to recommend Halong as it's serene beauty causes feelings of calmness and awe to surface. I only hope that a percentage of the tourism profits go towards cleaning the waters. This unfortunetly seems unlikely, as everyone is so eager to cash in on the tourrist trade here. I walk away thinking 'leave only footprints'!