We packed our bags and paid our hotel bill last night in preparation for our early morning departure today for Halong Bay. We leave at 7.30am and make the 10-minute walk to the Vega Travel office – in the rain – where we are leaving our luggage and picking up the mini-bus that will take us to Halong City. There are ten other people doing the trip; Mark and Sue from Brisbane, Daniel and Fiona from New South Wales, two Dutch couples and an another Aussie couple. The trip takes three hours and is very uncomfortable; the ‘mini’ in mini-bus has been taken a little too literally and we are squashed into the seat over the rear axle. Andy isn’t feeling too good – either from lack of sleep or the onset of flu or possibly both. We arrive in Halong City to stunning views of the karst landscape and a glimpse of some of the thousands of craggy outcrops that rise perpendicular from the bay. And, importantly, no rain! We transfer to a small junk with sails not yet unfurled and probably more for decorative effect than for any practical purpose. A delicious seafood lunch is followed by a visit to ‘Surprising Cave’ and a chance for some kayaking.
The cabins are ‘cosy’; space enough for a double bed – just as well we are travelling light. There is no storage apart from a few hooks on the wall and a couple of bedside cupboards which are too big to fit the available space and have been jammed in sideways!
There is a mist hanging over the bay giving it a slightly mysterious air, but the sun is trying to make an appearance, so perhaps we may see some good weather at last. Our first stop after a delicious seafood lunch is ‘Surprising Cave’ which lives up to its name. Discovered by the French at the turn of the twentieth century, its small entrance belies a complex of caves each larger than the last and all remarkably dry and warm. They contain an impressive array of stalactites and stalagmites one of which looks uncannily like a turtle. In the late afternoon we get a chance to go kayaking to an enclosed lagoon accessed through a tunnel and surrounded on all sides by perpendicular cliffs. There is a narrow beach on one side where a couple of monkeys with rather colourful posteriors are foraging for food. As we head back to the junk the light is beginning to fade and we are struggling to identify our junk from the half a dozen or so others that have moored up for the night. The crew have kindly raised the sails and moved the boat to another spot, making it that bit more difficult to find!
Andy is definitely not well – hot to touch but feels cold. Hopefully a good night’s sleep will sort him out.