From Jail to Sail

We travelled back to Hanoi on the “limousine” bus, arriving at about 1400. The bus was really a Transit van fitted with nice comfy armchair style seats. Unfortunately our driver was either stupid or insane, but more likely just trying to fit in with everyone else on the road. But we made it one piece. Temperatures in Hanoi had dropped and it wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as it had been the week before. It was still hot though.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at Hoa Lo Prison. Or what is left of it. Most of it was knocked down to make way for a flash hotel, which is a little ironic as Hoa Lo Prison became known as the “Hanoi Hilton”.

The museum that now occupies the remaining part of the prison is a masterclass of propaganda. The first part is devoted to the history of the prison, how it was built by the French and used to house criminals and political prisoners, male and female. Apparently the French treated the prisoners terribly. But the political prisoners (many of whom went on to be high ranking members of the Communist Party), on whom the museum concentrates, were all very brave, even those who were led to the guillotine.

The second part of the museum is all about how well the Vietnamese treated the US of American aircrew who were shot down over Hanoi. There were photos of them receiving medical treatment, playing volleyball, basketball, chess, and billiards. However, having read some accounts by US of Americans who were held there, I have doubts as to the accuracy of the information presented in the museum.

Later on, our dinner had just been delivered to our table when the power went out. Dinner by smartphone torch light, how romantic. The power came back on about 40 minutes later, which was a great relief as it meant we had air conditioning again.

It was an early start on Saturday to get picked up by bus for our trip to Ha Long Bay. The drive took about 4 hours, including the half an hour break at a large touristy souvenir/food place.

Once at Ha Long we were impressed by the sheer number of boats. We boarded ours, via tender, and we were off. As were a lot of other boats. At one point we counted 17 other boats off to our left all charging out into the bay. There were several more ahead and behind.

The scenery was nice once we got out into the bay proper, large limestone islands poking up from the sea. There are 1,969 islands in the bay, and sometimes it felt like there were just as many boats (not counting the local fishing boats, etc). The boat we were on was fine, nothing flash, but with a capacity of only 14 passengers we weren’t going to be crowded. Sharing the boat with us were a group of five Danish guys on their gap year, two other Danish guys on their gap year, two local travel agents, a Frenchman, and a retired US of American and his Japanese girlfriend. They were all good companions on our voyage.

At lunch we were told the plan for the day. Basically this involved visiting a cave and then a beach. The cave was Sung Sot Cave, and was really nice and large, but we only had 45 minutes to see it and we had to share it with what felt like, and probably was, a couple of hundred others all following the same path. It felt a bit rushed and crowded, but it was a nice cave. From there we went to the beach on Ti Top island. This island is, believe it or not, named after a Soviet cosmonaut who visited the island way back when. There is a large statue of him at the landing area.

The beach was packed. They had an area marked out with buoys to swim in so people didn’t get hit by one of the many boats constantly going in and out dropping people off and picking them up again. Most of the people there were Vietnamese or Chinese and they were very excited to be at the beach, and it was bedlam. We were the only ones who swam to the limit of the swimming area, the locals and Chinese staying in the shallows. In addition to the beach, the island also features a stairway to the top so you can see the view. We decided against going up as we figured there would be a long queue of selfie stick-toting people. Those who did make the effort confirmed our hypothesis.

Then it was back to the boat for dinner as the boat motored to our anchorage for the night. This was a nice spot, in among a circle of limestone outcrops away from the other boats. Apparently the other boats stay out in the open because out there they have cell phone coverage. After dinner we tried, unsuccessfully, to fish for squid.

We were awoken in the morning by the anchor winch running and the engine starting up. First stop was to do a pre-breakfast kayak. The boats don’t carry kayaks, we transferred to floating docks where there were kayaks available. The kayaking lasted about 45 minutes and was good fun. We kayaked to a small beach and walked up to a cave, which was nice but much smaller than the one the day before. At the exit, which was larger than the entry, we could see swallows flying around. It was a good start to the day.

Then back to the boat for breakfast as the boat moved to our next stop, where we met another boat. Those of us doing two nights on the boat were going to spend most of the day on this other boat while our boat took the Frenchman, along with a few people off the other boat, back to the mainland; their time was up as they were doing the one night option.

Once on the new boat we headed to another area for more kayaking. This time the kayak was really good. We went through a hole in the rock into a long lagoon which we paddled the length of. At the end we paddled through another hole in the rock and into a beautiful round lagoon, and we had it all to ourselves. It was great. The swimming was nice, though we had to be careful getting out of the kayaks due to the soft sand and the sharp shells hidden within it. The alternative was to risk losing blood on the sharp rocks. But it was worth it, this would be the highlight of the trip. As we were leaving a whole lot of other people showed up in kayaks, so that was well timed.

From there we went to another island and anchored just off the small beach, again it was just us there, and we spent about three hours jumping off the boat into the water, swimming, and relaxing on board. More boats started to arrive near the end of our time there, but there was plenty of room for everyone. The worst thing about this area was the amount of plastic in the water. It is a real shame to see a beautiful area ruined.

Then it was time to rejoin our original boat. Once on board we started moving past various islands to our overnight anchorage, which happened to be where we started our pre-breakfast kayak. Again, we were pretty much alone.

Another early breakfast the next day was followed by a visit to yet another cave. This one was much smaller, unlit, and not as spectacular as the others. We noticed the ceiling was very smooth in places, and thought this might be due to the sea water coming through, but it turns out it was a man-made covering. The cave used to be a dinner venue until the government put a stop to that. After walking the length of the cave we came across a small fresh water lagoon, filled by rain water.

From there we headed slowly but steadily back to the mainland. The number of boats we could see increased as we got closer. They were heading to and from the bay, most of those heading into the bay were day-trip boats, they were the fastest ones. Then it was the bus ride back to Hanoi. That was our time in Ha Long Bay. We liked it, but the scenery didn’t blow us away as we thought it would. The photos you often see in the promotional material are aerial photos, which show the various islands as islands. At sea level it looks quite different. Having said that, the trip was nice and relaxing, the (mostly local) food was good, and we met some nice people. We considered it money well spent. 

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