Day 84 - 89 Halong Bay

With heavy packs we left Hoi An and flew to Hanoi in Northern Vietnam. Hanoi was where we were based for the next couple of days as we arranged our Halong Bay tour. There are over 400 tour boats on the Halong harbour ranging from 5star to a small junk boat not quite afloat. We learned about the boat that sunk in the harbour in 2010 claiming 11 lives, and other stories of people booking through travel agents only to find themselves on a completely different boat. After what felt like a stab in the dark, even after Mike’s hours of research we found ourselves on the Paloma cruise. A 4 hour bus ride took us to the harbour where we stepped aboard the ornate wooden junk boat for 2 nights on top of the green waters of Halong bay. From the French windows of our small pretty cabin we gazed in amazement…it was like being on the set of pirates of the Caribbean, surreal but somewhat daunting. As we sailed further from the harbour into Ba Tu bay we left the community of house boats, grinning toothless sailors and the rubbish which plagues this pretty place and entered serenity.  Wedges of jungle laden limestone had been littered throughout the bay, creating a maze of ocean and rock, coves and caves, and a small collection of pretty wooden boats also exploring the area. It was low season in the bay, HOT but luckily for us clear skies and not a drop of rain. We were joined by 12 other great people on a boat that would usually take 55 in the high season; it was fantastic to have such a small group.  We spent our days eating, eating, and ah eating, kayaking, swimming (in the clean spots), learning to cook the Vietnamese way, cave exploring and lounging on the top deck getting lost in the view. One of the highlights was our trip through a floating fishing village. 300 people who have created a community on the water, who basically never step on land and earn a living selling fresh seafood to tour boats. Families pack into small fishing boats for up to 3 weeks at a time, leaving angry looking German Sheppard’s to guard their floating bungalow. How do the guard dogs survive on their own you ask? (well I certainly did) They have evolved into sleek swimming, fish catching canines that even drink salt water. People living on the water their entire lives amazes me but salt water drinking dogs…this trip has made my head ache.