Halong Bay, Sung Sot Caves, overnight boat

Early in the morning we take a bus and head north to Halong Bay. It is a four hours long drive from Hanoi and it is raining – the first rainy day during my trip. I feel relieved it is not hot and sunny, the Hoi An heatstroke incident was such a nightmare to go through.

I am studying a history of Halong Bay in the bus. Halong Bay area has more than 3000 limestone karsts and it is listed to the World Heritage. I read about a local legend from my Intrepid guidebook:

“Long ago when the Vietnamese were fighting Chinese invaders, the gods sent a family of dragons to help defend the land. This family of dragons descended upon what is now Ha Long Bat (hence the name “Bay of Descending Dragons”) and began spitting out jewels and jade. These jewels turned into the islands and islets dotting the bay, linking together to form barriers against the invaders. The people kept their land safe and formed what later became the country of Vietnam”

On a roadside someone is grilling a dog. Curiously it still looks like a dog, the head or hair has not been removed. It looks like a dog is just having a nap on hot coals. The dogs in Vietnam often look a bit something in between german shepherd, finnish spitz and chow chow. I wonder what dog tastes like.

It is pouring rain when we get to Halong Bay. I finally get to use my umbrella to block the rain rather instead of the hot sun. To our happy surprise, the whole boat will be ours for the whole day and night. There are about ten cabins, a restaurant deck and the roof deck. The boat looks simply amazing, I am hoping the weather will improve so that I can use the deck as well.

Binh Minh, our boat for the day and night

We sail slowly amongst the big carst islands following a long queue of similar tourist boats. On our way we pass several small floating villages and the weather starts to clear up. The waters are calm and it is very relaxing. We drink few beers, sit on the deck and enjoy the quietness after the noise of the big cities.

Our first stop is Sung Sot Caves aka. surprise caves. The cave consists of three separate caves, each of them is bigger than the previous. I tell my friends that the biggest of the caves feels like the Mines of Moria and everyone agrees.

“Speak, friend, and enter”

We are following a stone trail throughout the journey. The caves are steamy and warm. Around me it is quiet and dark, there is also a constant dripping sound. The ceiling looks like it is made of concrete, but I learn that it is actually made by water at the time long ago, when the caves used to be underwater. Some parts of the caves are like Giger’s designs with the alien eggs and some formations are almost like cauliflowers.

Alien eggs.

I see three French couples. The women all carry their newly adopted black haired Vietnamese babies. I assume that the new parents get to spend a while in Vietnam bonding with their new babies before flying back home to Europe. We try to talk to one of the ladies, but she doesn’t speak (or doesn’t want to speak) English with us.

From the top of the caves the views are magnificent and the weather is sunny again.

A view from the top of Sung Cot Caves

We then head to a nearby beach and spend an hour swimming. The water is warm and salty and the views are straight from the postcards.

Swimming in Halong Bay. I am the pink one (again)

We anchor to a bay with other tourist boats and the evening is relaxed and quiet. We have our dinner, and when it gets dark the crew does some fishing. We call it an early night. During the night it starts raining again. I am warm and comfortable in my cabin under my quilts and fall asleep to the thunder rumbling outside.