Hanoi Trip Day 2 – Halong Bay

Began with a 3-hour and 20 minutes car ride to Halong Bay, which was located about 165km east of Hanoi, in Quang Ninh Province. It took that long because the driver was careful not to go over the speed limit on the Japanese Joint-Ventured constructed highway given the frequent presence of police, ever ready to “book” a person, or to “get some free” coffee/tea.

On the journey, there were lots to see and absorb, be it the padi fields, or the narrow houses but compensated by length. Apparently, as I understand it, the design of the narrowness of the house or shop was due to taxation of land issue (i.e. the more land you have in front of your house, the more tax you have got to pay).

It started off well, with us taking a “Junk” with the intention of staying overnight on the junk. Half way through lunch, I sighted the first of the limestone thingies, and went “Wah! So nice…”, but the cruise took a couple of hours circling the bay, which covers (the bay) an area of over 1500 sq km and consists of thousands of limestone karsts and islands. After a while though, the view looked pretty much the same, but what amazed me was that these were pure natural formations. Most took the opportunity to nap, while I read and was lost in a fantasy world of sword fights and magic.

By about 4pm, we started exploring a cave which had three distinct chambers, each larger than the next. Now when I said explore, we did not go down on our knees and climb through minute holes and stuff, but the pavement was well laid. Very touristy I suppose. As we approached the top of the cave, a magnificent view of a section of the bay could be observed.

Of course, there is the obligatory climb, as one tour mate kindly termed it “Journey of a 1000 steps”. Yeah, for a 360 degrees' view of Halong Bay, had to climb up 500 steps (and down 500 steps), to enjoy the spectacular view from a particular observation point. I nearly gave up halfway during the climb, breathing heavily, short of water, and catching the various sore throat germs from my travel mates. Incidentally, some chickened out from the climb, but since we came all the way from another land, I persevered following kind words of encouragement from a few others. A personal sense of achievement I would say.

And I tell you, after being totally unfit for so many months, I almost collapsed on my bed and wanted to sleep the rest of the evening away upon reaching the Junk.