Serene Halong Bay

After being crammed for 3 hours into a mini van with 24 people occupying all the available seats, and being bumped up and down the arrow-straight road above the rice fields to Halong City, it was such a relief to tumble out at the wharf.

It was the first day of the Lunar New Year. We had in fact had an easy ride from Hanoi to Halong City, as there was hardly any traffic on this most important holiday of the year. The wharf, however, was like New York Grand Central Station, only what we saw were Vietnamese cruise boats jammed next to each other awaiting passengers. Passengers also jostled or loitered near the ticket office while tickets were procured by the tour guides or agents

Despite the chaos, we were soon boarding our tender and heading out on the water to our boat the "Dragon Pearl". The harbour was also dotted with cruise boats anchored, arriving, or departing.

We were ushered to the 2nd deck, where the dining room was situated. After a welcome drink, we were given the keys to our cabins on the lower deck. I was surprised that these were quite well-appointed, although there was much juddering from the engines.

A tasty lunch followed, but then the rain came and pretty much stayed with us the whole time we were cruising in the Bay that day. It was really a wash-out for photos. It was no fun to stand in the cold rain and wind on the top deck trying to keep the camera dry. The mist was also rather thick so we could only see the karst features nearest to the boat. From time to time, other boats came out from the mist,much like a vessel from the "ancient mariner's" tale.

I enjoyed the calmness of the water, and the mystical feel of the place. After a couple of hours, we were taken to see the caves at Hung Sung Sot. I was the only passenger who did not follow the group, as I was unsure that I could keep pace with the climb up to the viewing belvedere. The itinerary for the day also included kayaking, but that was scrapped because of the wet weather. The 3 young Australinas and our guide,Bac, later had a fun time jumping from the ship into the cold water for a swim.

The menu for dinner was about the same as lunch. We shared a table with 2 Germans who were on a 2-week tour of Vietnam. Debbie was caught up with 2 ladies from Australia, who were of Chinese descent, and formerly from Saigon. One of the ladies had a family-run watch and jewellery business before the Vietnam War. They managed to preserve their wealth, and later the son made 3 attempts to get away on a refugee boat to australia, before he finally succeeded.

Karaoke, seemingly the favorite past-time of Vietnamese, followed dinner. The "party" continued aboard a neighbouring boat till late at night.

The following day, we transferred to a "day cruiser" when we sailed into the waters of Haiphong province. After lunch,we sailed near the open sea where we felt relatively heavy swells for the first time on the water. The Singaporeans were not interested in getting off to view the natives on "monkey island" . Our port of call for the night was Cat Ba Island. After checking into Holiday View Hotel, we walked round the entire seafront ot the town and up to the hotel past the bus terminus. Apparently there was a beautiful hike further on, but it was dark and we returned to the hotel for the copious buffet dinner.

Departure was scheduled for 7.45am, but it was a very groggy Bac who shepherded us to the jetty. He had spent the night drinking till 1am.

Leaving Haiphong province, we transferred again to a cabin cruiser that brought us back to the congested wharf where eager passengers awaited to retrace our voyage.

Once again we crammed into the minivan, and this time bumped our way on the trunk road amid honks and beeps from motorbikes and cars carrying the holiday crowds making visits to friends and relatives. The ricefields on either side were more visible in the afternoon light. Among the ricefields were the houses, and sometimes, even tombs of the proprietors.

Back in Hanoi, we paid our respects to the Cathedral and the Opera House (a mini Paris Opera) and were later taken to the railway station where we boarded the night train to Sapa.