Early morning, we checked out of the hotel and headed to our favourite restaurant in town, Tamarind Cafe for breakfast. We were leaving Hanoi for Ha Long today. The travel agent had booked us rooms on a boat for the night...(yea you read it correctly). A van would come to pick us up from Tamarind Cafe. The ride was mostly bumpy. We were stuck with 4 other women who seemed very moody and sleepy. Anyways, Ha Long city (or what we saw of it) reminded me of the street above Bondai beach in Sydney. It jus seemed like one loooooong stretch overlooking the sea. It started drizzling slightly as we got into a small motor boat. Soon we were transfered to a junk boat, which was going to be home for the night.
I have to admit, I had never imagined staying on a junk boat in the middle of the sea when I decided on this trip. It was jus so cool! The four women who travelled on the van with us, were our 'housemates' apprently. We decided to sit on the deck and enjoy the view. No words or pictures can describe the spectacular scene that laid in front of us. We were moving towards what looked like millions of small islands (actually its only ard 1000plus).
Ah...sigh.. I wish I was there right now. The only thing that needed getting used to was the boat swaying from one side to the other making everyone a little unsteady. We were soon served drinks and got acquitented with our guide who told us some history about the place and also the plan for the day. Since this was a smaller boat meant for only 8 people, we could choose our activity. Our 4 housemates were from Spain and actually lovely company. We spent sometime asking background details from one another. At some point, I remember, it felt like a "Singapore Vs Spain" contest of some sort.
After much chit-chatting we finally decided on kayaking for the afternoon followed by swimming. We headed into our rooms to check them out. The rooms were on the lower deck of the boat. The bigger rooms had two single beds while the smaller rooms had a queen size bed. It was jus so cool staying on a boat! It felt so exciting. After a little unpacking, we went back up for lunch. The chef was disappointed that 4 of us were vegetarians and hence he cudnt serve his speciality crabs and prawns for us. As a compensation (or punishment maybe), he decided to load us up with a lot of vegetables and rice which we cudnt finish.
After a little lazing around, it was time to go kayaking. Between the four of us, two couldnt swim and of those two, one was terrified of water. She came with me. With a little help, we all settled into our kayaks. We were smack in the middle of south china sea, surrounded by mountains and ships. I felt so tiny in comparison.
We started off behind the guide, who took us around a few of the mountains/islands. Very soon we were far behind, trying to catch up but the current kept pushing us away. It didnt help that my partner started having a near nervous breakdown with every wave that hit us. It also didnt help when we suddenly turned around to see that a big ship was heading straight towards us. Did I mention the currents pushing us towards the rocks and we getting stuck there? No? We had to be 'rescued' (twice) by two white boys who pulled our kayak out. I have no idea how long we were actually there. After a while we headed to a beach. We were told we should go to the topmost point of the island and check out the view.
We raced up, what seemed like, endless number of stairs and from the top we realised why this beach was so significant. It was the centre most island of Ha Long bay. The other islands made like a circle (reminded me of the ring around Saturn). We caught our breaths and sat there for sometime before heading down again.
Soon we were heading back towards our boat. After a nice long shower, we headed to the deck again to relax. We were pretty famished, so as soon as dinner was announced, we literally attacked the food. All 9 of us (the 4 spanish ladies, us 4 and the guide) stayed there talking for a very long time. Darkness had descended on us very slowly. The captain had anchored the boat in place to ensure that the current din push us into the rocks at night.
Everyone was tired after the long day and the gentle rocking of the boat put us to sleep faster.