Halong Bay is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.. That may seem like a bold call, but it puts the previous holder of the title (the Amalfi Coast, Italy) to shame!
Halong Bay is made up of hundereds of vegetation clad limestone formations that dramatically rise out of the South China Sea. Halong Bay was named by the French and means “Land of the Dragon” as the formations represent the body of a dragon.
After hours of deliberation in Hanoi the day before, we opted to indulge in a bit of luxury and splashed out for a high-end 3 day tour – one night on the Pinter Cruiser and one night at a 5* resort on Cat Ba Island (Flashpacking Gone Nuts). Well worth it!
Having just got off the over night train from Sapa we camped out in a cafe for a few hours before being picked up by our mini-bus. We were both knackered after very little sleep, a string of early starts and the trekking.
We got to the harbour at noonish and boarded the Pinter, a lovely traditional style junk boat. We were greeted with a fresh watermelon smoothy 
We cruised out into the bay and after a while anchored for lunch. We shared a table with Kelvin, an old-timer American who was hard of hearing. Laura’s normally loud voice got louder!! We learnt on this first sitting the need to pace ourselves as the excellent food just kept on coming, wave after wave … it was an onslaught!
After lunch we, and seemingly every other boat in the vacinity headed to the grandly named Amazing cave, which lived up to it’s billing.
We then headed to a secluded spot in the bay, away from the plebs 
, where we anchored for the night. It was a full moon and the views were breathtaking. We got talking to a brother and sister (Mike and Kate) from New England who were in their early twenties – spent a lot of time talking music; I felt old after catching myself saying tossy things like “back in the mid-90′s I was living in Manchester when the whole britpop scene exploded”. Jebus!
We were up early to watch the sunrise (I’ll link to some pics once they’re uploaded), which was even more breathtaking than the rising full moon. Totally stunning. Ethereal.
After breakfast we took to the water in kayaks and bossed around for a few hours. We ended by paddling through a floating village, equiped with a school, electricity and dogs!
After re-boarding the Pinter Cruiser we packed up and were decanted onto a smaller boat to get us to Cat Ba Island, the main island in Cat Ba National Park.
We weren’t to know it then, but that was the last time we were to see the Pinter!
As I write this we are stuck at sea!
We’re on our way back from Cat Ba Island and although the Sun is beaming, there is a low fog that is hugging the sea and rocks.
After waiting for about an hour for the mist to drift by, I playfully asked Duke if the captain had any charts. Unsuprisingly the answer was no as I was told the captain used his knowledge of the rocks and experience of the bay to navigate. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m a big believer of experience and learning from the scars of life, but it doesn’t count for shit when you’re floating about in 30m visabilty on the South China Sea!!
I’d offered the captain use of the GPS on my phone, but got a bemused look in return. I guess knowing where you are now isn’t much use when you don’t know where you’re heading.
The engines have just re-started, I can spy a rock on the horizon!
We’d left the Pinter Cruiser mid-morning on a smaller boat that was our landing craft for Cat Ba Island, the largest island in Cat Ba National Park. The trip only took about an hour or so through the formations of Halong Bay.
We reached the secluded bay where our 2 hour trek started from. There wasn’t much room to manouvre as the bay was small and the tide low. A plank was hastily arranged and we were all told to be quick. We either weren’t quick enough or the captain hadn’t apprecieted just how low the tide was; either way, we were beached!
We pressed on with our guide, Duke, and “Team Malaysia” as Duke referred to the Malaysian contingent, leaving the crew trying to lever the boat free from the shore.
The trek was very cool and one of the reasons we picked the tour. It was on a trail created by the company owner who grew up on the island. It weaved up and down, through thick undergrowth and heavy forest. We came across a tranquil lake and then a small holding where an old couple had retired to. It felt like we were in the middle of a lost world.
We eventually punched out onto a single track concrete road and headed down to our rendevous point at the nearest harbour (a rather grand word for what was a concete jetty). The boat wasn’t there though. Duke made a quick call and the boat was still beached and would need to stay there until midnight for the high tide!
Another boat was scrambled and after about a 45 min wait we were being taken for lunch on a secluded beach on one of the formations on Halong Bay, or so we thought.
Our new captain was a little more cautious than our former and so an executive decision was taken to have lunch on our emergancy craft – a honeymoon boat.
After lunch, another enslaught of food, we headed to to the maim harbour at Cat Ba Town. We were staying in the lovely Sun Rise Resort , along with a grand total of 2 other guests! There must have been 10 staff to one guest.
After a relaxing afternoon on the beach we had a stroll around to the next bay before heading to dinner back at the hotel.
During dinner I was feeling quite content with life (check out the picture here and you may be able to understand why) when my phone buzzed with a SMS from Slinn (fellow Director at Rockshore). It was a txt to tell me one of our major projects, and one that I had led for almost 2 years, had closed out. I was a very happy man at that moment, in that place. I celebrated with another Tiger and made sure I gave myself a few minutes on our balcony to saviour the moment. Well done boys.
The next morning we were picked up by our rescued transfer boat to be ferried back to the Pinter Cruiser for the final leg back to the mainland, or so we thought!
We very quicky found ourselves in a serene mist and were Lost At Sea!
We didn’t make it back to the Pinter Cruiser as when the mist cleared we headed straight back to the mainland.
For some unknown reason we moored at a seemingly random point on the mainland and then walked for 3km to our minibus in the heat of the early afternoon Sun; not a great end to a fantastic few days, but after a complaint back on the mainland we suprisingly got a 20% refund. Laura was most pleased with my negotiation skills!
