Ha Long Bay is one of the the world's most visually arresting landscapes. A madly dense
archipelago of over 2000 eroded volcanic remnants, it is like nowhere else on the planet.
To experience it more fully, we rented a big old boat and lived on it for three days
with the crew and our guide Mr. Xin
Ha Long means Rising Dragon, and we pointed our dragon prow out to sea,
into a marine labyrinth of cliffs,
precarious needles of rock,
and wonderfully serene coves
Meanwhile, we swam at secret beach
after secret beach
after secret beach,
after secret beach,
after secret beach.
On board, the food was fresh,
fresh,
fresh!
Most of it was bought from so-called "sea gypsies" who live in houseboats in the Maze. The
rock is very abrasive pumice, making settlement impossible, so these people remain afloat
all their lives. Many children can count their terrestrial visits on one or two hands.
They travel in tipsy little boats that are actually giant baskets, hand woven of bamboo
and pitched like their ancient ancestor, the coracle. Some are even motorized
In any case, women with laden boats sailed out greet to us from every "village,"
bantering with the cook about what was fresh, ripe, cheap, etc. A brief look at the
wildly diverse offerings,
and much longer minutes of tenacious bargaining yields dinner
(and some intense after-market gossip between the boat ladies),
which later that evening looked like this,
before the roast snapper and rice.
Days were spent exploring the many caverns in these rocky islands
jumping and swimming
or simply messing around on deck, where things could be scenic,
very rainy (but only for about ten or fifteen minutes at a time)
meditative
journalistic
or mischievous (here testing the infinite variety of echoes at out nightly moorings)
Last but not least, there was sleep
sleep,
sleep ...
Travel, travel, dreams and memories. Remember?
After cruising around Ha Long Bay, we went to the mysterious Cat Ba Island.
Sorry,
no pictures.
Too mysterious...