Halong Bay, Vietnam

Halong Bay in Vietnam is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen – I can only imagine how stunning it must look when the sun is shining down on the water. We did get lucky with the weather, however. As we were sitting on the back deck having breakfast it started to pour, and I'll admit we were a little bit nervous about what that meant for our junk cruise on the bay. The holiday gods smiled on us though, and by the time we caught the tender to shore the fog had lifted and the rain had stopped. Though we saw very little sunshine today, the cloud cover at least kept the temperature down and it made for a very pleasant day out on the water. Our junk was a two story wooden vessel varnished rather than painted garish colours as the Chinese junks were. Inside the lower level there were wooden tables with park-style benches on either side. Large windows gave everyone a great view of the passing scene. When we first boarded we noticed that two of the tables were laden with things to buy – pearl jewellery on one table and a variety of souvenirs such as fridge magnets, keychains, small cloth bags, tiny boxes and compacts with inlaid designs and white tiger balm on the other. As the journey progressed the sales ladies brought out more and more goods for us to purchase – embroidered pictures of Vietnamese scenes, beautiful silk kimonos in a variety of colours, cotton peasant shirts and souvenir t-shirts, and wallets in traditional designs. There was a real buying frenzy on board! We also had an opportunity to buy fresh fruit from local boat people who pulled up alongside our junk and sold their wares right through the open windows. After we crossed the open part of the bay where the ships are moored we entered a world of unbelievable beauty. Limestone rock formations of many different sizes and shapes eroded over time by the waters of the bay and topped with lovely green vegetation stick up out of the calm green waters. Minute by minute the vistas changed as the boat explored new channels. Many of the rocks have been given names describing their shape – the toad, the thumb or the cock and hen for example. We spied a formation that we named the skidoo, for obvious reasons! Eventually we sailed into a beautiful cove surrounded by towering rocks to find a floating village inhabited by fishermen and their families – a series of raft-like floats, each with a small neat brightly painted house built on it, a clothesline full of laundry hanging outside and a small fishing boat attached to one corner. The scene was idyllic! What a lovely spot in which to live out your days. The waters around the rock formations were quite busy. Tour boats, fishing vessels and private pleasure craft abounded. At the base of some rocks we noticed local people in cone-shaped hats harvesting mussels. Apparently some of the rocks are home to birds and monkeys, but try as we might we didn't see any! We thoroughly enjoyed out three hour cruise of Halong Bay – no wonder it has been named a World Heritage Site.