So Long Halong

(written on 31/07/09, posted on 28/09/09)

So three days in the beautiful Halong Bay and here I am back again and saying goodbye to Hanoi.

Three days of being a tourist and floating around on boats. This is the trip everyone seems to do when they first get to Hanoi and it's worth it. Someone told me it's a bit like being herded around and they were right in a sense. But when you get to your junk there's only a handful of boats near you in this UNESCO site. The only depressing thing is seeing litter float past your canoe and seeing the cooks chuck things into the water. There doesn't seem to be much respect for keeping the site clean and perhaps a bit more education is needed to the boat staff.

The limestone cliffs will blow you away though and if you get a chance get in a canoe to see the caves. The bay is riddled with Jellyfish. Only one person got stung on our boat which is apparently usual. Loads of great people on board which made it for me, a few of which I made good friends with. So a Happy Drunken Birthday was had by T and we were all entertained by a group of hilarious Irish lads. Especially J who had an eye tattooed on each ahem cheek. I cried with laughter when I saw it.

On the second night a group of us who had paid extra were whisked off to our private beach (view from the beach at dusk above). We got there around midday and were looked after by a crew of locals and two British lads who were clearly picked for their ability to get tourists drunk. A and E, two British girls just out of Uni did their best to keep up whilst the rest of us enjoyed watching them. Some of the lads got all caveman and built a beach fire from Bamboo. One of the crew told us it has a habit of exploding in fires due to air bubbles that get trapped inside. It was such a nice chilled out evening. As soon as someone told me there was phosphorescent algae in the water, a group of us got changed and jumped in the sea. It was amazing, swimming along with these gold sparkles travelling up your arms. It was definitely the scene of much drunken hilarity but this doesn't take away the astounding beauty of the whole place.