Halong Bay

Ironically Michaela and I ended up being picked up on the same minivan to go to the coast, a bit of a bonus since we won't be able to meet up in Laos after all. On the same group as us there was 3 kiwi girls my age, an Italian, german couple and an older japanese guy who lives in Taipei. So I related to like half of them.

The ride to the coast was very interesting. It took a good 3 hours through the country side. The Vietnamese country side has quite similar landscapes to the Taiwanese country side, ie plants and trees and shacks. But of course its a lot more dustier and you can tell that ppl have really really poor housing and level of environmental protection and hygiene compared to the cities. Not many motorbikes, mostly they ride bikes or horse carts. If they do have motorbikes they carry crazy stuff by doing more with less - a few guys had two or three dead pigs roped up together at the back. Another one had really really huge polyesterine boxes three times the width of his bike. Don't know how they manage.

Communist propaganda lined along the street coming out of Hanoi and we discussed how fantastic it is that there's not MacDonald's in Vietnam. But that BP and Caltex was probably necessary since Vietnam doesn't have any oil fields. There's lots of Taiwanese investments here I can tell by the Chinese names on the plaques on the factories that litters across the stretch of road. In fact at the guesthouse I am staying at there are about 5 or 6 Taiwanese men trying to find Vietnamese wives and asking me to translate pick up lines for them. I told them I was too busy.

The dock was fascinating - lined up with old school house boats catered to ship in/out the masses of foreign tourists wanting a glimps of this wonderful bay. Woo hoo we're at the beach!! Hugged Mickey and Celia good bye and headed off on our floating guest house for the next two days.
It really was sensational, World Heritage Listed sites do not lie. Beautiful and endless islets and bamboo boats fills the water. Every islet was a different size and shape. Its quite cold and cloudy, so there were different layers of islets with differnt shades, and just adds to the mystry of this place. Halong means descending dragon. Legend has that this female dragon descends to earth for a visit and fell in love with its beauty, and decides to stay forever. So it flapped its gigantic wings and tail and created thousands of channels and holes as she slows down into the sea. I feel like I've come home to NZ - the serenity, calmness, the breeze. Yet this is so Asian, and got this really ancient feel to it. Certainly a huge contrast to my last big sail on the Rainbow Warrior where the wind was at 40 something knots and 5 - 6 meter swells.

We had a few stops on some of the bigger islands, exploring a few limestone caves, hills, and a bit of kayaking. My kayak partner was Omuchi San, the Quiet Japanese, whom saved my life a few more times than I'd like to remember. Later he even tought me how to take photos properly - he is the Japanese rep of Olympus Cameras in Taipei - same co. that produced my shoddy camera - must be pretty shocked at the way I am treating his prized possessions...

My dorm room is pretty snaz, well, its a boat cabine but its just so retro. Flax made bed and wood carved wordrobes. And not so crash hot water that goes cold quite a bit at our end cos the boat is tipping towards the other side. I am sharing it with Kristie who has been travelling for about 6 months through US, Europ and SEA and is so much more street wise than I am. Made me realise the bargains I scored aren't bargains after all... dammit.

The evening was spent drinking cheap beer and searching endlessly for a decent kareoke/DVD to put on. I now have a brand new drinking game from the kiwi chicks to corrupt Canberra. The oddest line of the evening was from the Quiet Italian Alexanddro who wore speedos earlier in the afternoon, at just 8 pm : "Shall we have an orgy?". All the girls break down in laughter and he just sank into a hole till Jimmy Rogers came on.

Lots of other boats in the same bay that we docked, and I fell asleep in the dim lights and the smell of incence and bamboo. I am so glad I decided to stay over night onboard, a day is just not enough, and this really is a unique experience.