Ha Long Bay: Chillingly Vacant yet Beautiful

I apologize for the abandonment of this blog for quite some time! China restricts access to loads of websites including Blogger! 

We arrived in Ha Long after a long ride from the airport. Although four hours doesn't seem very long, we were so eager to catch a glimpse of the mystical Ha Long Bay that we could barely contain our excitement. We shared the taxi van with a family of 7 from Denmark who were just starting out on a 3 week backpacking adventure through Viet Nam. What cool Danes! As fate would have it, Jen overheard the Danish family negotiating for a private taxi to go to Ha Long Bay while we were waiting on a small bus to take us to Hanoi to take another bus to Ha Long (a less direct route). Once Jen and I confirmed that we were a little sketched out with our current bus driver, I ran across the parking lot to talk to the Danes who were piling into a van. After a quick confirmation, we grabbed our things and were off! As another stroke of fate would have it, we happened to be staying at the same hotel so we didn't have to take another taxi once we got into town. Hello Ha Long!

Cold and abandoned...

Something is off about this city (note: not the bay). It looks like it boomed in the 50's and subsequently was abandoned - perhaps due to the war. There weren't many restaurants or shops open. We did come at a time of year that wouldn't bring too many tourists in due to the colder weather and overcast skies; however, even in peak season, the town has a gloom of abandonment over it. Many buildings sit hollowed out along the coastline. Were they ever finished? Our guess was no. For our first two days, we barely ran into any other tourists. Where were they? We quickly extrapolated that most tourists bus from Hanoi to Ha Long, hop on a junk boat (they are quite beautiful despite the name), tour the bay for 1, 2, 3 days and bus back. Ha Long has been rejected. Poor thing! Nevertheless, it was a good experience to be in a very different city from the rest of Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, we couldn't find heating anywhere, including our hostel. One day we walked back and forth along the coastline looking for some kind of tourism center full of open stores and heat. Another day we spent eating junk food, reading, drinking wine, and trying to stay warm under our blankets. In other words, our four days in Ha Long were an adventure!

Indescribable beauty...

By our third day in Ha Long, the bay still hadn't revealed itself to us; it was still holding on to its foggy sheath of mystique. It was then that we decided to brave the waters of Neverland and take a junk boat tour out to the rocky islands themselves. Boating out into the bay felt like we were part of a scene in Pirates of the Caribbean - the thick fog left nothing to be seen in any direction except for other junk boats making their way out into the abyss. This unknown must have been quite familiar to our crew because they guided the boat with ease around the islands to our destinations.

Ha Long Bay is cold yet all consuming in its isle beauty. There is something so extraordinary in the interplay between the land, sea, and sky in this place. The hundreds of rocks that jut out of the emerald ocean look so mystical in the heavy mist. And that sea is just so completely emerald...there is something so perfect in that color; I found myself getting lost in it.

Beside a floating market.

That day was full of treasured views, huge caves, floating seafood markets, new Dutch friends, and freezing temperatures (the boat wasn't heated). In a way, we welcomed the cold weather; it kept the experience from feeling too surreal - there is something truly awakening about the chill of the sea.

The scarf Marielle made for me! I love this quote from The Alchemist.

Out on an island in the bay.

The famous fighting cock island. 

Inside an enormous cave in the bay.

Gastronomic delights...


Just like everywhere in Viet Nam and Southeast Asia, the food was spectacular.

Our incredible lunch on the junk boat.

Note the steam coming off the pho. It was freezing outside/inside!

Local culture...

On our final night in Ha Long, we were walking back up to our hostel after eating dinner at a local restaurant (free stares included!) when the lady who runs the hostel, Muong, stopped us to sit down and have some sunflower seeds and popcorn (very popular snacks in Viet Nam) with her and her friends. 

Immediately she offered us some of her homemade red rice wine which she had made over the course of 3 months for the recent Tet holiday in Vietnam. We couldn't say no. Really, we couldn't. And wowzers what a flavor! Although it was red in color, it tasted like a cross between tequila and rum with the strength and potency of them as well.

Some of the locals said that we were funny; here I will add that all of the Vietnamese we have met have said 'it is funny' or 'that is funny' or 'you are funny' when usually they meant to say 'fun' instead of 'funny'. Although, in this situation, I am not sure which one they meant. Jen, some of our new Vietnamese friends, and I ended the night by KTVing (singing karaoke). This consisted of English classics like 'Mama Mia' and 'Barbie Girl' and loads of Vietnamese songs; it was a blast.

Our KTV Room

Off to Hanoi to warm up!