Our tour guide gave us some useful information on our trip down to the port:
- The Chinese occupied Vietnam for over one thousand years
- “Viet” means “the king’s people” and “Nam” means “living in the south” (because Vietnam is south of China)
- There are 56 different ethnic groups
- The south has two seasons: rainy and dry
- North and Central Vietnam have four seasons like us (and, of course, it’s currently autumn)
- Population of Vietnam is 94 million (I think a previous tour guide said it was 92m, so close enough)
- HCM city is the economic capital, whilst Hanoi is the cultural capital
- Hanoi (which, of course the locals call “Ha Noi” because they only have one syllable per word, so multi-syllable words are broken into separate groups of letters – this makes learning Vietnamese even more difficult, because you don’t know where one “word” ends and another starts) means “inside the river”. Building it within the bend in the river made it easier to defend
He then explained that Ha Long (“descending dragon”) Bay was the seventh natural wonder of the world. This is only slightly accurate. It was one of the “New7Wonders of Nature” in a recent (2007 – 2011) global poll. Another tour guide had apparently said it was the eighth natural wonder. I think what they’re referring to is actually UNESCO – it was designated a World Heritage Site under criterion vii (“to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance”) and criterion viii (“to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth’s history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features”).
Either way, it’s a spectacular seascape comprising about 2000 limestone islands and islets (“karsts”) rising from the sea, in a variety of sizes and shapes:
It was a slick operation when we arrived at the dock:
I found out afterwards that, in peak season, ten thousand tourists a day visit Ha Long Bay. And they know what you’ve booked. Well, they know what your travel agency has booked for you, which may not be what you think you’ve booked. But I trusted Lily, and it came good – this was to be my home for the next two nights:
My room had a jacuzzi bath. I have arrived 🙂
The views were incredible. Pictures, once again, just don’t seem to do it justice, but there are a couple that capture something of what it was like to be there:
It’s not just the karsts themselves (which are spectacular), but the sheer volume of them, too. The more expensive boats actually go to Bai Tu Long Bay. Cheaper boats don’t have a licence for the area, so it’s less touristy. That’s how “you get what you pay for”.
Lily had explained that there were two or three “areas” of activites (a fishing village, caves, pearl farms) and that which boat you were on dictated which area you would see – and the more you paid, the less touristy it would be. That was indeed the case, and we were rowed round the old fishing village on a bamboo boat, which allowed us to get really close to the rocks:
When the bay became a World Heritage Site, the fishermen were moved out. Despite questioning, it was difficult to get to the bottom why this was. The official reason was that providing education and healthcare to the community was easier if they were on the mainland. I think the powers-that-be were also worried about damage to the bay (e.g. water pollution) and wanted to protect the site (which did, of course, yield financial as well as environmental benefits). I understand work is underway to better protect the area – boats for ten thousand tourists generate a lot of water pollution (and rubbish).
Understandably, the fisherpeople weren’t very happy about being moved out. Some of them stayed. Most of them left. Some of them live on the mainland, but still come here to fish. Except that it’s not that easy to get home, so they live on the boat for a few days. A tough life. All for a few kilos of fish per day.
About 90% moved to Ha Long City, and their houses went with them. Literally. Their houses were deconstructed, moved to the city and put back together again. They’ve left a few, though, which look very pretty:
Unfortunately, nobody could tell me how the karsts were formed. Online explanations contain a lot of complicated words, so I’m going to have to leave that for another day, I’m afraid. But the results are truly amazing.
I’d heard there were eagles in the area. We spied these beauties, but weren’t sure what they were – if anyone knows, please do say:
Just incredible.
An impromptu game of football was going on when we returned, complete with a net to fish it out of the water when it went out:
I love the way they love to play.
Our evening entertainment on the boat was vegetable carving. Don’t laugh, it was actually quite good fun to watch:
But realistically it aint ever going to happen – practising vegetable carving will never get even remotely high enough on my priority list. Ever. And I’ll need to practice given my first attempt at a rose:
Squid fishing seemed to be primarily to keep the tourists amused as there was clearly no chance of anyone catching a squid:
A great day in an incredible place. Can’t wait to see more tomorrow.