Thursday, April 28, 2011

Northern Vietnam: The Bay of Descending Dragons, Ha Long






Long ago when my forefathers were fighting foreign invaders from the north, the gods of heaven sent a family of dragons to help defend our land.  This family of dragons descended upon what is now Ha Long Bay and began spitting out jewels of jade.  Upon hitting the sea, these jewels transformed into dozens of limestone islands and islets which dot the seascape and formed a formidable fortress against the invaders.  The locals were able to repel the invaders, keep their land safe, and form what is now the country of Vietnam.  The Vietnamese people honored the Dragon’s and because of their reverence, the Dragon family fell in love with Vietnam and decided to remain on earth.  The mother dragon now rests in Ha Long Bay where she watches over and protects Vietnam… or so the legend goes.



Utterly stunning.  That’s all I can say about Ha Long Bay.  It is truly one of the most beautiful and scenic views I’ve ever experienced.  It was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1994 by UNESCO for it’s spectacular aesthetic value.  Although, it was once a hidden gem which few people visited, nowadays tourists flock to this site in droves, where throngs of people shuffle on and off boats in the small harbor that serves as Ha Long Bay’s primary entry point.  At first I thought that it was going to be a real disappointment.  I didn’t like the crowd and the limestone karst formations were kind of hazy and unimpressive.  I didn’t realize the haziness was due to the fact that we were still quite a long way from the actual bay itself.  Boy was I in for a pleasant surprise.






Me and Chantra spent our first night on board an old Chinese style imperial Junk (fancy word for ship).  We went to our cabins to get settled and rest for a bit.  This took about an hour or so.  When we finally decided to emerge from our cabin, what we beheld simply took our breathe away.  The pictures do not do this place justice and I do not have the words to describe the splendor of Ha Long Bay but I will try.  Underneath the hot Vietnamese sun, our boat sailed across a clear emerald green sea whose water was so calm that It could gently rock a child to sleep.  All around us were dozens of exquisite limestone mountains, covered in thick dense tropical rainforest, that rose out of the sea like some sort of ancient colossus.  Some of these island’s had small hidden alcoves while others had pristine stretches of sandy beach. 



As we moved further into the bay and farther away from the other boats, we started to see the small aquatic villages where the locals live.  About 1600 Vietnamese populate Ha Long Bay, where they make a living farming fish, oysters, and clams underneath their floating houses.  It’s a simple but hard life.  Most of the local’s here rarely leave the bay and only come to town to buy or trade their wares.  I loved seeing the women in their conical hats slowly rowing their boats on the calm waters of Ha Long Bay.  It was such a common sight, yet there was a sublime beauty to it.  To a Vietnamese person, this is an Iconic image.



Rather than going to a resort on the largest island, we opted to stay in a bungalow on the beach.  Man did we ever make the right choice.  After a night on the boat, me and the wife, were taken to one of the larger limestone formations.  It had it’s own private beach which was large enough for about 4 or 5 bungalows.  It was secluded and completely isolated from the other boat traffic.  In fact the island didn’t even have any electricity.  The family that stayed there had a gas powered generator which they turned on for 4 hours a night between 6 and 10 p.m.  There was nobody on the island besides us, a few other couples, and the local family.  It was calm, quite, and serene.



Our bungalow looked out into the bay and was beautifully constructed.  It was bare bones but we didn’t care.  The family had kayak’s for us to use and we spent several hours leisurely kayaking through the bay.  We met several of the locals who took to the time to speak with us for a few minutes before they went back to work.  Several of them even invited us over for dinner but we politely declined.  We finished our stay with a beach side BBQ and bonfire where we had some fantastic seafood, freshly caught that day, and watched as the stars slowly crept across the flawless night sky.  Ha Long, the bay of descending dragons… stunning.

















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