Mysterious Ha Long Bay

Ha Long means Descending Dragon. It it thought a dragon spat out emeralds that were the unique formations of Ha Long Bay. There are two similar smaller areas called Baby Dragon and Dragon’s Tail. Ha Long Bay has the distinction of being one of the seven wonders of the modern world. 

It is a region of thousands of limestone karsts, that is mountains that jut up out of the water. Some have vegetation on top, a few are hollow and their bottoms are coated in bivalve shells. Some form natural lagoons. For the most part their sides are sheer rather than sloped, creating an otherworldly aspect to them. 

To get here from Hanoi you drive through the Red Delta and hours of rice paddies interspersed with cemeteries, much like in the Mekong Delta. Because cremation is expensive, the poor people in the country bury their dead and disinter them two or three years later when they are skeletonized. They clean the bones and put them in these fancy graveyard houses. I remain concerned about the wisdom of burying bodies in low lying wet food growing areas. Am I eating dead people in my rice? 

Actually, considering how back breaking rice farming is, I am probably killing some of them eating their rice.

Anyway, no one is as interested in dead people as I am, so I’ll move on.

Since this is a big oyster and clam ecosystem we stopped by an oyster and pearl farm on the way. Yuck!

Once at the marina, we got on a speedboat they call a tender, and we were off to immigration and then way out amongst the karst formations to find our cruise ship. It was an incredible view. It was misty and foggy so all these massive formations just kind of loomed out of the gloom at us and appeared very mysterious. Our phones and cameras are all full of photos of vague forms in the mist. Our guide was apologetic that it’s not sunny but I am enjoying the fog. It’s around 90% humidity and my hair is 1980s rock band big.

Our boat is lovely and I would like to live here awhile but it’s only one short night. Breakfast tomorrow is at 6:30 am so it’s a very short night indeed. After a delightful lunch we were off to go kayaking. We visited the setup of a couple who live on the water as clam farmers, and smelled some fish farms. We paddled through an opening under some karsts and found ourselves in a gorgeous aqua coloured but dirty lagoon. This was where we had intended to swim but we shelved that. We paddled by a guy rock climbing and stopped to cheer him on. He made it around 13 metres up the side of the cliff before turning around and jumping into the water. We paddled out to the entrance to the open sea to China before turning back for our ship. K & I were concerned because our guide boasted about being fast and we were worried we couldn’t keep up. Many of our co-kayakers were fit young and active and we are not any of those things at the moment.  We were out for 2 hours and we were the front of the pack the whole time and the first back after the guide. We surprised him and really surprised ourselves. I fear how surprised my muscles will be tomorrow.

It was back for a hot shower, blow drying the only pair of pants I brought and had worn kayaking, happy hour, a cooking class, dinner and karaoke. Squid jigging was another option that was a hard pass from me. 

Karaoke was fun. We sang and danced and encouraged everyone to get up. For a long while it was a junior high dance where the girls sang and danced together while the boys sat along the sides and screamed “no!” if you even looked at them. We eventually convinced some of them to get up and belt out a few. I was on my way up to belt out some disco when buddy bartender in his noise cancelling earphones strode over and said “no more!” I can only imagine how obnoxious it sounded to all the poor oyster and clam fishers in the area. 

Tomorrow is an early morning of watching mountains in the mist and a few activities before heading back. I may just chill and stare at mountains and leave the running around for others. We have enough running around in our next few days.