According to our research, there are currently seven natural wonders of the world. And one of them was practically right under our noses, just a few hours' drive by van away, on the north-east coast of Vietnam. So after our intense but nevertheless restful motorbike tour, we organised our onward journey to the world-famous Ha Long Bay. The route took us back via our beloved Hanoi and then on by minivan to the coast, where we switched to a cruise ship. This wasn't one of the huge liners you picture when you hear the word, but a smaller one that could manoeuvre well around the bay. Thanks to the great value for money in Vietnam, we could afford an all-inclusive 3-day, 2-night tour within our budget with a clear conscience. The agency we booked with had told us we could expect quite a lot from our vessel. But when, after a long journey with a stop at a well-known pearl farm, we finally stood on our ship, the "Rosy Cruise" turned out to be the floating counterpart of a Hilton hotel.
My stomach seems to have taste, because there was no sign of my Indonesian seasickness for the next 3 days. That was probably because, judging by the interior, you didn't even notice you were on a ship – unless you looked out of the panoramic window. We were quite amazed when we opened the curtain in our floating luxury room and saw that the ship was sailing between unusual rock formations sticking out of the water like scattered teeth. Via a loudspeaker in the room, the captain informed us in good time about activities and mealtimes. Beyond the panoramic window, our room also had a balcony from which you could admire the remarkable scenery – or buy snacks from a floating shop.
Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is like a huge water garden on which countless ships and boats cruise around between the spectacular limestone formations on green water, offering their passengers the best photo views and anchorages depending on the route. Then kayaks are provided and you can paddle between or around the small rock islands under your own steam.
So you tour the enormous bay for 2 or 3 days and, where possible, visit exciting places, beaches or the main island of Cat Ba. There isn't a single inhabited island in the entire northern part of the bay; it's even strictly forbidden to set foot on the rocks. Only in the far south lies Cat Ba, the largest and only inhabited island. Sea eagles circle above the water and, if you pass at the right moment, glide majestically low past the ship. For me, as a fan of birds of prey, that was one of the most beautiful experiences. It made me so happy to admire an average of 10–15 sea eagles every single day. There were just so many. No wonder this area was used as inspiration and a model for the flying-dragon scenes in James Cameron's blockbuster "Avatar". "Ha Long" even means something like "descending dragon". According to legend, the dragon created the landscape by thrashing wildly with its tail. In the film, too, the riding dragons glide down from tall, narrow rock formations and manoeuvre between them. If I were a bird of prey, this is exactly where I'd want to settle. Remarkable what a difference it makes when people aren't allowed to live on the islands.
Since you're not allowed to set foot on the islands, the bay's inhabitants live in floating villages. During the day you only see a few floating wooden connections or mini jetties that work like rafts. People are out in their boats during the day. Many are fishermen. But the tourist boats and ships like ours are now the main source of income for most. So there are floating traders and suppliers who provide the ships with everything they need. Other floating stations are large fish farms, also raft constructions. We were able to visit one of them. In the evening the boats come home and are tied together to form a village. It was quite a striking thought when I realised I was among people who lived exclusively on the water.
Here, too, as a film fan you instinctively think of the post-apocalyptic action shots in "Waterworld". We learned that one of the floating villages has the only school in the bay, where the teacher was assigned for 2 years before being replaced. Not everyone goes to school regularly; earning a living is the priority.
On day one we admired the view along our route, paddled around a bit in the kayak and enjoyed the luxury of our room and the ship. Our bathroom even had a bathtub, and there was even a jacuzzi on board – which is all a bit odd when you're surrounded by masses of water in the most beautiful bay anyway. In the evening we were invited to cook Vietnamese spring rolls ourselves under the crew's guidance and to taste them. Afterwards there was the dinner buffet. On day 2 we made a shore excursion to Cat Ba (on an extra luxury tender – "dinghy" would be an understatement). We explored the island on old bikes in a mini group. There we visited a traditional village called Viet Hai and got to dip our feet into a fish spa, where a special kind of fish nibbles the old skin off your feet, if you can stand the tickling. Of course there was a bit of history from our guide too, and we were invited to taste various traditional Vietnamese spirits from the area. Since, to our regret, the pickling jars contained banded snakes, seahorses and other ingredients that were mysterious to us, we only tasted the honey schnapps and the mallow spirit out of politeness (in the morning!).
We continued on our extra little ship to remote beaches. We had the chance to jump from the ship into the water, which, as you know, always means fun for us. You had to swim over to the beach. Since the water in the bay is deep green and opaque, those were a few slightly uneasy minutes of swimming, but we came through those just fine too. Unfortunately, my step-counting watch disappeared into the depths of Ha Long Bay as an Austrian guest gift when I jumped into the water. Back on the main ship, we joined in the spring-roll rolling once more and enjoyed our lovely accommodation. On the third day we headed back towards the harbour, past the great forested limestone formations and accompanied by the sea eagles.
So, apart from the fact that Chris now eats quite a lot of different vegetables, Ha Long Bay was our very first natural wonder of the world. And we thought that was absolutely great.
As always, here's a short summary and some photos: