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| View from the top deck of our "junk" |
A group of us arrived early in Vietnam in order to visit Ha Long Bay, which was not on our school itinerary. We booked a two-night, three-day tour with Vega Travel, out of Hanoi. Our days were filled with kayaking, swimming, caving, biking, eating, and rock climbing in a bay punctuated with tall limestone karst islands mostly covered with thick green jungle. This was all in extreme heat and humidity, with a constant soundtrack of buzzing cicadas. The landscape was gorgeous. Jellyfish and warm salty water tamed my usual enthusiasm for swimming.
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| Kayaking transport boat with karst islands |
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| Show cave in Ha Long Bay |
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| Floating fishing village |
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| Cow on Cat Ba Island |
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| View from the top, Cat Ba Island |
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| Floating fishing village |
I was struck by the floating fishing villages in Ha Long Bay. Colorful turquoise and red houses float on the water, with boats and walkways on the side. For those living on the water, their entire existence is caught up in their livelihood. These families farm fish for sale. Some of the floating houses provide kayaks to tourists. According to our guide, Dem, the government required families who have not been living in the bay for a certain number of years to relocate to land. There are now less people living on the water than in the past. The bay is naturally stunning, yet I found the floating fishing villages to be the most interesting part of the trip. Ha Long Bay is on the World Heritage List. The World Monuments Fund writes on their website that the fishing villages form, “an integrated landscape and living tradition” (https://www.wmf.org/project/fishing-villages-hạ-long-bay).
My biggest disappointment was the litter. There was a lot of trash in the water of Ha Long Bay.
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Cat Ba Town, view from our room at
Hung Long Harbour Hotel Cat Ba |
MONSOON!
Cat Ba Town's bay is filled with fishing boats and floating restaurants. Dem told us there was also a floating fishing village in the past that has been cleared out. We feasted on crab, lemongrass fish, spring rolls, morning glory (water spinach) with garlic, mantis, and grilled squid with lemongrass at Dolphin restaurant, about a block from the bay. We stepped outside after dinner and a mass of people were running towards us up a slight hill, away from the ocean like their lives depended on it. Trash flew through the air. A wood frame with a net flew onto the street from the sky. We were confused. We didn't know what was happening. Our group decided to head to the hotel straight away. It was a monsoon! The rain soaked through my clothes and undergarments within seconds. We ran against hundreds of people running in the opposite direction. Everyone sought shelter while we forged on. The wind picked up anything not bolted to the ground, all sidewalk signs were knocked over or tumbling through the streets.
Eventually, I stopped running. I was wearing flip flops, running through buckets of rain, through a river of water in the street while locals all stood under awnings or inside businesses. It just felt foolish. My classmate stopped with me and he asked a group of men seated at a big restaurant patio table, "How long to monsoons like this typically last?" They spoke no English, but offered him a shot out of a plastic bag in a tupperware. He was dubious, so they pulled out the plastic bottle the liquid came from and it looked like pee. They all took a shot together. Next, they offered me a shot, which I accepted. It tasted like a mix between tequila and sake. The monsoon cleared up in about ten minutes, and we were able to walk to the hotel, soaked but no longer in danger of a flying sign hitting us in the head.
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| Floating fishing village |
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| Limestone karst island |
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| Madeline on the boat |
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