Monday 9 April 2012

Halong Bay

Well Halong Bay was a few days ago now but I've been a busy bee since then and haven't had time to stop and do anything. Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site and despite its famous beauty I was actually a bit unsure about going there having heard reports about the bay being spoilt by mass tourism and pollution. I did only only opt to go on a day trip, most people usually stay at least one night on board one of the 'junk' boats in the bay. Partly this was due to the weather, it's very overcast and foggy in Halong right now and partly because I'd already spent a day in Phang Nga Bay in Thailand which is a similar if not smaller version of Halong Bay.

Having just spent the night on the sleeper bus from Sapa and not got the most sleep I've ever had I was feeling a bit on the tired side and did spend a large portion of the 3 hour plus bus journey to the bay sleeping. There were many many buses taking hundreds of tourists to the bay, so when I was awake and staring out of the window I could only feel sorry for the people who live in the towns that we drove through as the stream of buses and coaches clogs up their roads everyday. There really only is one route to Halong form Hanoi and the roads can't really handle the level of traffic.

Apparently there are over 500 boats at Halong Bay and usually a minimum of 15 people on each  so it's not exactly a quiet world heritage site even if it's a beautiful one. Yes there are a lot of people but once you're on boat and sailing away you don't really notice the numbers and the pollution and rubbish? Thankfully I can't say that I saw any to be honest. It must have been all the comedy penguin shaped bins dotted around the places where you could get off the boats.

I really enjoyed my day trip, the weather was indeed foggy but it kind of made the rocks look mysterious as they appeared form nowhere in front of the boat. We saw a floating village and one of the many cave sites in the bay. Weirdly (or not as these kind of things happen all the time) I met some girls on the boat who were from England, two had gone to Durham Uni and we knew people in common. It's a small world and all that.

So all in all I would totally recommend a trip to Halong if you come to Vietnam, one day was enough for me but plenty of people stay longer and love it. I was just keen to get back to Hanoi and on the overnight train to move down south to Hue.

Some of the crowds waiting to depart at the harbour

Out of the fog

Famous rock - it's on a banknote

Floating groceries

In the caves

Lovely souvenirs

View back towards Halong Harbour

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