The Transcendent Beauty of Ha Long Bay
Most people recognize the landscape of Ha Long Bay before they know the actual location or name of the place they are looking at. Featured in countless movies over the years, most recently in Hollywood’s blockbuster Skull Island, Ha Long Bay offers a dramatic backdrop that is irresistible to a directors eye. While the images of Ha Long Bay are incredible on the big screen, what’s undeniable is that it’s even more dramatic and awe-inspiring in person. “Descending dragon”, or “Where the dragon descends to the sea” being the literal translation of Ha Long Bay, Vietnam’s magical jewel is one of folklore and legend, and truly from an ancient place in time.
What A View
There are many ways to see Ha Long Bay, but the most common form is on a cruise. Yes, it can feel a bit touristy arriving at Ha Long Bay’s terminal in a transport bus, ready to check-in and board your ferry transport out to your cruise ship. But it doesn’t get much better once you’re on the ferry and the view hits you. Off in the distance you see the first set of mounds, and then the second set, and the closer you get, the more impressive it becomes. By the time you’re boarding your ship, your home for the next few days, you couldn’t care less how touristy it might seem. All you can think about is how awesome a setting it is, and how excited you are to see more of it. As it turned out, we couldn’t have been happier with our chosen method of transport. With a constant view of amazing unbelievable-ness in every direction, including from our stateroom and private patio, we were glad we ponied up a little extra for this experience.
“On A Boat!”
There are numerous companies who offer these types of cruises, although our guide said the pandemic had knocked quite a few of the companies out of business. The cruises range from overnight stays, to week-long visits. We chose the 3 night stay as we had a few tours lined up within the trip, and we felt if would give us enough time to see different parts of the bay. The boats offer tons of activities throughout the day, including kayaking, swimming, tours for hiking, exploring caves, cooking classes, happy hour on the roof deck, and other fun group activities. We were even treated to an after-hours impromptu karaoke party with the staff, but I cannot confirm or deny if I may have had something to do with that.
Cat Ba Island
One of tours we signed up for had us board a smaller boat and make a 2 hour trek to Cat Ba Island, which is by far the largest of the 350+ islands that make up the Cat Ba Archipelago. “Woman’s Island” in Vietnamese, Cat Ba island is 100 square miles, and has much to see and explore. People have inhabited the island for over 6000 years, and the dramatic landscape of the rocks in Ha Long Bay continue on the island. We pulled into a small town on the northeastern side of the island and made the 1/2 hour trek to the village via golf cart and bikes. The town was quaint, and seemingly self-sustaining, with many residents catering to tourism brought in by the cruises. Of course the ultimate tourist activity, this was the first place I tasted snake whiskey.
The Caves
The caves of Ha Long Bay are absolutely stunning, and that was just the ones we were able to see this trip. Taking a separate transport boat, we made our way to a really cool fishing village that lives on manmade floats on the water.
Historically, the fishing villages used to be commonplace, but in Vietnam’s more recent history, the government has stepped in and regulated these type of communities.
From the fishing village we got on a very light and wobbly pontoon powered by one totally awesome, and strong, Vietnamese woman, who rowed our boat in and around multiple caves.
Deborah and I, and the other passengers on our little boat, were very fortunate to have our mom with us on the trip, as she ended up talking to our guide and essentially translating a fabulous tour for us.
It was truly a magical experience, and we still have more caves to see! Next trip we will make it to Dau Go Cave, Me Cung Cave, and Sung Sot Cave.
Sometimes Science Doesn’t Sound as Cool
According to geologists, the glorious landscape of Ha Long Bay took around 500 million years to develop, which is wildly unfathomable to me. Much more exciting to me is to hear the stories of the various traders and pirates who roamed the bay over the past centuries.
But even better are the legends about the origin of the bay. One legend details a dragon stomped on the earth with such force that mountains crumbled, forming large valleys that soon filled with water, and only the peaks of mountains remained above the surface.
The second legend tells of a dragon whose large tail tore up the earth, creating valleys and crevices that became flooded when the beast jumped into the nearby water.
Don’t get me wrong, science is cool and all, but after seeing Ha Long Bay up-close, my money is on the dragon stomping on the earth story.
