Halong Bay

I arrived back in Hanoi just as the sky burst and began to dampen the spirits of the city’s early risers. I had planned to make my way down to the lakeshore (no not for the young men!) to witness Hanoians performing their daily exercise routines, over a nice bowl of noodles. Instead I sheltered from the rain under a piece of tarpaulin projecting from a garden shed, whose owner got a little cranky with me for not sitting down and purchasing tea or a cigarette whilst using his facilities. His grumpiness did nothing to ameliorate my Sapa-and-rain-induced foul mood so I politely ignored him until the rain stopped, before wandering off in search of my travel agency with a bone to pick. After 10 minutes of semi-aimless walking, I didn’t have much notion of where I was – the boarding platforms of the train station appearing to be some way from the place I’d bought a ticket from the other day. However, I had a couple of hours to kill and knew the Lonely Planet was in my bag if I got really lost…so I took pleasure in wandering through the wakening city, observing the pre-dawn lull rise to the usual steady chaos of activity. Arriving at my travel agency before the doors were open, I perched on the step reading Phillip Pullman’s ‘Dark Materials’, while a lady set up her noodle stall on the street beside me. Eventually, having watched the garlic peeled, the stock stirred and the chicken diced, my grumbling stomach forced me to park myself on one of her kiddie stools and partake in a fine bowl of Pho Ga (chicken noodle soup). Very tasty and a damn sight healthier than a Full English…
My travel agent eventually opened up shop and I immediately set about voicing my disappointment and displeasure. Coming from the UK, where the Trade Descriptions Act protects us from dodgy deals, I suppose I was expecting a partial refund or something. After listening to her sob story about the 4 day treks actually costing them money (some sort of loss leader scenario, which explained why everyone had been so keen to sign me up for a 3 day trek) and surmising that she felt not one jot of guilt, I gave up and put it down to experience. To be fair, I’d only paid $79 for my 4day/5night trip…and I knew Jonny and Steve had paid well over $100 for their 3day/4night effort. I figured the agency had another chance to prove itself to me with the trip to Halong Bay…and if that didn’t go as expected, then I might just spit the dummy.
Waiting for the bus to pick me up, I found Fleur standing in the doorway…she had managed to book the same tour to Halong Bay and I assumed we’d be travelling together and stand an outside chance of bumping into Jonny and Steve in a bar or something. However, it seemed we would be taking different buses to the bay – although we would at least be staying in the same hotel that evening. I’d taken a liking to Fleur’s down-to-earth scouse attitude…and it turned out we had both given up jobs in pharmaceutical sales to go travelling. It seemed a shame not to get a chance for a proper natter again, but there was nothing we could do about it.
Of course we did bump into each other a couple of times en route to Halong, as it became apparent that the bus drivers all travelled a set route and herded their passengers into the same pitstops. This started to irritate me again as I felt like a fish swimming around in a barrel waiting to be shot by a local. Literally hundreds of tourists all heading for the same destination like sheep on a droving road. After a month of independent travel in Korea and the Philippines, I wasn’t used to following the crowd. Also, at the back of my mind I was realising that the chances of Fleur and I bumping into Jonny and Steve were probably fairly low, considering how many hotels and tour groups there would be. To cap it all, our tour guide was an irritating little git who kept trying to crack jokes and get all pally with us. At this stage, the last thing I wanted was his false bonhomie and all he succeeded in doing was putting my back up further. At this point, I was about ready to jack Vietnam in and head straight for Cambodia’s less-developed sights.
Once we arrived in Halong Bay, things started to pick up. We found ourselves on a rickety old motor junk that had an authentic weariness to its paintwork and a true oriental charm. As we tucked into a tasty seafood lunch we wallowed and chugged our way out into the eerie beauty of the bay. The sky was overcast and the light poor, so I’m afraid the photos don’t do the place any justice. Suffice to say, rolling over the green water and threading our way through this maze of tiny green islands was a serene experience and one I’m unlikely to forget. Interestingly, the limestone crags rearing out of the water reminded me of the jagged peaks of Seoraksan and it occurred to me that it already felt like months since I’d been riding Shanks’s Pony over that rocky terrain. The mind seems to lose the ability to keep track of time when its experiencing new things every day…perhaps my ten months will seem more like a decade by the time I return home.
I only had to put up with my irritating tour guide for another few hours – the limestone caverns of Hang Sung Sot and some of the more suggestive formations gave his puerile sense of humour a field day, but by this stage I was calm enough to laugh. As the light began to fade, four of us were transferred to another boat, which was to take us to Cat Ba Island where we were due to stay the night. Of course, I was terribly upset to be leaving my companions with their guide, but such is life, eh? ;-) The minute I stepped off that boat, everything started to go well again. First thing to greet me on board the new boat was a thick Burnley accent proclaiming, ‘Alright, Fin! How’s it going, fella?’ To my surprise and delight, I had found Jonny and Steve…on a boat…in the middle of nowhere!! Woohoo!
Against all odds it seemed we would be staying in the same hotel on Cat Ba Island. They’d had heavy night the night before and had spent the day at Monkey Island and Sea kayaking around the bay…thrashing a pair of Swedish lads in an unofficial international race. Judging by the state of the Swedish boys, I’d say Jonny and Steve had nobbled them with that most famous of British talents…coercing them into necking to great a quantity of beer the previous evening.
At the hotel, I found myself bunking in with a pleasant German chap called Ziggi. Taller than me, if not quite so broad, Ziggi looked to be in his fifties and had found solo travel in Vietnam as uncomfortable as I had at times. However, his easygoing disposition made light of the low ceilings and cramped beds…certainly a lot more affable than most younger Germans I’ve encountered.
A delicious dinner (including some stir-fried frog) was hoovered up in no time and the English teamed up with three Aussies and a Canadian girl to shoot a few racks of pool and sink some Tiger beer. Canadian Robyn from Nova Scotia was a softly spoken lass with a mischievous grin and easy-going sense of humour. Not given to extroversion, her witty observations were few and far between, but all the funnier for their scarcity. Jonny and I both have similar jack-the-lad styles and the banter was soon flowing as fast as the beer. Steve, as the quieter, calmer foil to our loud exuberance completed the team and we soon cleaned the Aussies up at pool (or stick as they call it) and thought to seek alternative entertainment. Mel, Mark and Russ all hailed from Brisbane and had that welcoming, open attitude that travelling Aussies are renowned for. At 19, Russ was considerably younger than the rest of us, but had a refreshingly old head on his young shoulders. The first thing I noticed about Russ was the constant bottle of Tiger in his hand…the second, his constant willingness to engage with travellers and locals alike. He’d obviously taken the time to learn some Vietnamese and wasn’t the least afraid to meet and befriend the locals. His openness and straight attitude reminded me very much of another 19-year old I’d met in a Spanish airport just over a year previously and I soon warmed to him. Mark and Mel had previously been a couple (although it took me two days to work out the ‘previously’ bit!) who had decided their friendship was still strong enough to withstand the pressures of travelling together. At any rate, a trip to Vietnam seemed too strong a temptation to pass up over a relationship break-up. The triumvirate were connected by Mel and Russ’s jobs at Brisbane airport and all three had got cheap flights on this basis. Naturally more reticent than myself or Jonny, Mark, nevertheless, came across as a playful wise-cracker at first glance, although his shrewd political observations belied a keen intelligence. Mel was the more reserved of the three and spent much of the evening nattering with Fleur and Robyn while we lads got the measure of each other on a pool table that bore a closer resemblance to Twickenham after Lomu, than the putting greens of St. Andrews.
Over dinner, a tout had come round with cards for the Blue Wave nightclub and on Jonny and Steve’s assurances (they and the Swedes had had the place to themselves the previous night and thoroughly enjoyed themselves) we headed up there to continue our merry-making. First thing we noticed was how busy the place was for a Monday night in, what was really a sleepy little island port. The next thing that struck us was how few girls seemed to be throwing shapes on the packed dance-floor…with Fleur, Mel and Robyn we’d almost doubled the number of female punters. Thinking back through our inebriated haze, it dawned on us that the tout had only distributed cards to the lads at dinner…had we unwittingly stumbled on gay night? It appeared so…but didn’t make any real difference…we were battered and determined to ave it large! Russ, tanked up and giving it some was the first to fall by the way side…after a sweaty, frenetic half hour on the floor he caved in to exhaustion and alcohol over-indulgence and made an early exit. The DJ wasn’t much cop and the music not much better (swinging wildly from painful R&B ‘classics’ to eighties kitsch pop to dirty Eurotrance). I’m sure if I’d found my eardrums so assaulted at home, I’d have sat at the bar and annihilated myself…or gone home. However, I hadn’t been clubbing in such good company since early October and was fully determined to make the most of it. Jonny, Steve, Fleur, Robyn and I were last to stagger out of the place at the unearthly hour of half-midnight…living up to our national stereotypes for enjoying the sauce. Ziggi claims not to have heard me snoring, but I’d imagine that the skinful I’d imbibed probably put the turbines into overdrive. He was either being polite or had healthy supply of sleeping tablets, I reckon.
I jumped out of bed at seven to see Jonny and Steve off…their boat back to the mainland leaving an hour before our coach to Cat Ba National Park. It was unlikely I’d see them again until our returns to Blighty – their tour of South-East Asia a little briefer than mine, on the way to Australia. I’d have liked to spend more time getting to know the boys, but was chuffed that we’d at least spent one night out together…and I knew we’d stay in touch via e-mail.
Our walk through the national park was the perfect antidote to the previous night’s excesses and the views from the observation tower on the rocky peak were certainly beautiful. However, there was scant evidence of the abundant flora and fauna the Lonely Planet had described and we returned for lunch slightly underwhelmed by the experience. The saving grace was our tour guide Hăng – very sweet and friendly, although not in the sickeningly obsequious fashion of my previous guide. She had recently graduated from college in Hanoi and her English was excellent. Her ability to involve all members of the tour group was the making of the remainder of the trip…the two Swiss ladies on our trip and Ziggi were made to feel as much a part of the experience as the Anglophones…and we all found ourselves talking with people that we might not have taken the time to get to know otherwise.
Back on the ship once more we took a trip to Monkey Island. Unfortunately, the poor weather still seemed to be following us. At first, it seemed our trip was going to be to No Monkey Island…the little critters having disappeared into the trees to get away from a keen wind. We were on the verge of leaving, when the park rangers started gesticulating and shouting with excitement…sure enough, one by one several of the little fellas came swinging down through the trees and set about pestering us for food. The mother and baby combination won the lion’s share of the spoils due to extreme cuteness…although Alpha male monkey asserted his authority by chasing them down the beach, much to my pleasure and the consternation of the girls.
After another hearty lunch on board, we headed off to pick up our sea kayaks. Personally, I wasn’t overly excited by the prospect and when it was suggested that we might be able to fish off the boat if we returned from kayaking early, Russ and I jumped at the chance. Two further members of our party Thoai and Cody (Vietnamese/Californian and Hawaiian girlfriend and boyfriend) liked the sound of this too. A quick paddle around the nearest island was enough for us to assert that we could have beaten anyone in a race if we’d wanted to…and it was also enough for the curse of Sapa to come back and bite me in the ass one more time. Wearing my lightweight, but warm, ethnic shirt against the stiff sea breeze, I was a little disconcerted to find the dye from the embroidery staining my arms and swimming trunks a nice lurid yellow colour. Back on the boat, waiting to find some bait for our fishing lines, my multi-coloured skin tones (yellow and blue!) raised a titter from a group of Swedes who seemed to be invading our boat. It eventually became apparent that there was no bait to be had, but I was far from disappointed, having struck up conversation with a rather stunning Swedish girl, named Anna. We seemed to be getting on reasonably well and I had made the assumption that they were to be joining us on the boat that night. Thoai, the little scamp, could see that I was none too disappointed by this turn of events and made a point of asking them if this was indeed the case. When it turned out that they were merely using our boat for transfer to the island after theirs had broken down, my disappointment was all too obvious. This brought titters and smirks all round (particularly from Thoai!) and the nice crimson hue of my face gave a good contrast to my various other skin tones. When the rest of the guys returned from kayaking, we were unwillingly transferred to the boat we were to spend the night on…and the Swedish sweetie sailed off into the distance, never to be seen again…or so we thought!
Our night on the boat turned into another drink-fest (this is what you get for hanging out with Aussies!) and a late night cards sessions. Between them Cody & Thoai and Mark & Mel concocted a game known as Presidents & Arseholes…the concoction, being the meshing of American and Australian rules. The aim of the game is to get rid of your cards first to be President (Ho Chi Minh) and not be the last player and become the Arsehole (Hao Mung – Vietnamese names for a local flavour!) For my part, I like to think I eased the flow of conversation by translating between American and Aussie slang. It’s amusing to realise that so many people speak the same language in so many different ways. Thoai wasn’t averse to using her language skills to translate between us in the crew in Vietnamese to ensure a steady flow of beer and snacks. When we all finally decided to call it a night at three in the morning, I was able to enjoy a few quiet moments on deck, snatching glimpses of the starry night through the passing clouds. Drifting off to sleep in my cosy cabin to the sound of lapping water, evoked memories of my stay on Lugbung...it was good to be back with the ocean again.
We awoke the following morning to find ourselves back in Cat Ba Harbour once again…and it soon became apparent that our Swedish friends from the previous day were here too, waiting to embark on their return to Halong. By this time Thoai had managed to enlist the entire tour group in my cause with Anna and, as twelve pairs of eyes scanned the dock for a hint of blonde hair, I almost found myself hoping we wouldn’t see her. I was, admittedly, disappointed when we set sail without one last glimpse and received a good ribbing about it from my companions for most of the way back. Of course, when we returned to Halong, all the other ships were disembarking and, sure enough, we caught sight of Anna and her friend Peta, who Russ had taken a liking to. In an uncharacteristic display of boldness, I summoned up the courage to talk to Anna after the previous day’s embarrassment and – as the bus was about to leave (thus preventing any awkward waiting around) I slipped her my e-mail address and ran away before any of the gang started winding me up. It was foolish to assume we wouldn’t see them again and I had to put up with the good-natured goading of my companions during the cattle drive home, as our minibuses were disgorged at the same watering holes twice more. In conversation with her at the last of these stops, I ascertained that she was actually heading in completely the opposite direction to me, having come from Ho Chi Minh City northwards. Any ideas of hooking up and spending any time with her later in the trip were now resolutely dashed…ah, well…such is life.
Once back in Hanoi, I met up with Mark, Mel, Russ and Fleur for a last meal before making our separate ways to Hué. Fleur and I had booked sleepers on different trains while the Aussies were taking their chances on the notorious open tour bus (very cheap, long-distance tourist buses with a bit of a reputation for crazy driving and pushing passengers to stay in more expensive hotels for a commission). We were also hoping to catch up with Cody and Thoai but, as it later turned out, they spent 2 hours arguing with their hotel over a dodgy bill and we couldn’t afford to wait any longer for fear of being late for transport. I took the guys to a street café that Simon had recommended before heading back to San Fran. Despite Mel’s obvious initial reservations at eating on the street, the food was excellent and very cheap. We left each other with plans to hook up in Hué and to hopefully travel further south together from there. Having spent my first month travelling alone, I had begun to enjoy the company of like-minded travellers and I looked forward to spending some more time with them.