Ha Long Bay of Magical
Caves & Breathtaking Views
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| Our Highlight of the Day- Halong Bay |
Off promptly in the morning
to embark on our Halong Bay-Catba 3D2N venture, we took a 4 hour touristy ride
through the northern rural villages from Hanoi to Halong City, one of the key
port cities of Vietnam.
There was an en route stop at the Hong Ngoc Humanity Centre,
which is specially developed to provide support to communities in the area. The
handicrafts made at the center are available for tourists to purchase and you
can also make a donation to help the disabled children. We even managed to catch a short movie
before arriving at the port town just before noon.
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| Lotus in full bloom along the highway,quick snap :) |
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| Passing by the Railway enroute to Halong City |
Ha Long Bay
Halong Bay is famous for its
limestone islands sprouting out from the emerald waters to create a spectacular scene of
nearly 2000 islands that forms a breathtaking landscape. A
UNESCO listed World Heritage site since 1994, Halong Bay means "Bay of the
Descending Dragon”. Legend has it that a long time ago when the Vietnamese were
fighting off foreign invaders, the gods sent a family of dragons to assist in
the fight. During the battle to protect their homeland the dragons spat out jewels and pearls that has
later become the islands that we have scattered around the bay.
On arrival in Halong City board the
Junk Boats for our cruise on. The entire pier was filled with endless fleet of white junk boats,
which all looks quite the same to us.
Amongst the hustle and bustle of locals
and tourists, we just followed our guide and boarded onto our designated boat
via a small wooden plank.
Lunch was served on the boat while it made its way
through the emerald waters to out to the magnificent limestone islands at
Halong Bay. We would be having a 4-hour
cruise along the northern part of Bay for us to explore some of the grottos or
caves that have formed in many of the islands that fill Halong Bay.
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| Endless white junkboats lining the side of the pier, don't they all look the same? |
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| The wooden plank that we use to board and alight from the junk boats |
The seafood lunch was
satisfying, with fresh produces of Steamed fish, Prawns, Stir fried Squid with Vegetables
and Eggs. We caught an delightful sight of lady fruitsellers who rolled their
smaller sampan boats towards our big junk boats and boarded from the side with a few skips.
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| Lady fruit seller rowing out to our Junk Boats to showcase her offerings |
We took in the beautiful
scenery across the emerald water as we relaxed onboard after lunch. Within
30mins or 4km out from the wharf, we vaguely saw a tiny hilly island, which is
the Thien Cung (Heavenly Palace) Grotto located on the southwest side of the
Bay. It is situated in between a small range of islands that resembles a
throne, encapsulating two large grottoes at its centre.
Thien Cung (Heavenly Palace) Grotto
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| View of the \bay at the bottom of the Thien Cung Grotto |
The route to the entrance
of the Thien Cung Grotto is not exactly the easiest; we had to climb some steep
steps covered up by vegetations before reaching the entrance at the top.
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| Signage at the bottom of the Grotto |
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| History of Halong Bay |
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| Steps leading to the entrance of the Grotto at the top |
Inside the Tien Cung Grotto
As we step our foot across
the narrow grotto entrance, we were greeted with a dramatic drop in temperature
in a damp cave the size of a stadium. It is a much welcomed source of
"natural air-conditioning" after that hot upward climb.
The 130m long cave was
magically lit with various tones of lights, with stalactites meeting
stalagmites underneath unimaginable layers of stone curtains hanging high from
the top. The whole sight was simply magical and spell-bounding. We were told us
that the cave was only discovered recently in 1910, by a farmer who climbed the
hill to gather firewood.
One of the legend has it
that a beautiful young lady named May (Cloud) caught the eye of the Dragon
Prince and they fell in love. Their wedding was held at the centre of this grotto
and lasted for a total of seven days and seven nights. All the scenes from the
grand heavenly celebration have been seemingly fossilised into the grotto to permanently
preserve this joyous moment.
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| Magnificence within the Thien Cung Grotto |
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| The hole that allows the wind to blow into the cave |
The dramatic sights of
extraordinary rock formations sprouting out from the ground as well as from every
imaginable angle continued throughout our 30min meander inside the cavern. In the
centre, there are four large pillars supporting the “roof of heaven” . Images
of “elephants and animals in joyous animated movements; group of fairies
singing and dancing in honour of the wedding, and deities sending their
blessings to the newlywed s.” can be spotted with a tinge of imagination and of
course, help from the guide. There is also the sound of the “beating drum” made
by wind blowing through the stones inside the Grotto.
After the tour, I can truly
understand how the locals have managed to make out so many stories according to
their unique shapes.
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| Doesn't it resemble the underwater world in some sense? |
After the cave visit, we picked up some souveniers made from seashells to mark our experience.
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| Which one should i get? |
Next stop, the floating fishing village
Back onboard our boat , we move further south to
visit a floating fishing village nearby where where we catch a glimpse of the daily lives of the local inhabitants. According to our preferences, we can either
choose to swim in the emerald waters of the bay, take a scenic boat ride along
the islands or kayak your way to explore the surroundings of the floating
village. Alternatively, we can simply relax on board the top deck of the
Junk Boat to soak in the relaxing atmosphere.
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| The Pier which we alighted to visit the floating fishing village |
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| Quite a scenic view from their backyard right? |
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| A floating home, painted in bright shades of paint |
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| Vegetable seller cruising around the floating village |
We decided to do a boatride onboard one of these wooden sampans around the fishing village:
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| Say cheese from onboard the little boat! |
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| We get to row through one of the islands via a duct at the bottom during low tides |
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| View from inside the duct, rowing across to the other side via the bottom of the island |
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| ..and catching our Guide having fun on his kayak on the other side..Ok we promise we would not tell your boss about it. |
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| Picture perfect on our little boat for a nice keepsake :) |
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| There are many other groups touring the area on boat as well |
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| Opps..Is she cutting her nails? I think i just invaded her privacy |
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| Ok this is unintentional too. Moral of the story: when you stay near hot tourist spots, try not to strip in public..LoL |
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| A nice overview of the daily life at the floating villlage |
With some time to spend after the boat ride, we went into a frantic picture snapping
session, gathering some of the nicest paranomic pictures of the trip. Here are some of our favourites.
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| Breath-taking view gainst the Halong Bay & the Floating Fishing Village |
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| Another view of the Halong Bay | | |
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| I can busk here whole day! |
Last stop of the day- Catba Island
When time is up, we were transferred to another boat to make our way to the CatBa
Island for our overnight stay while the rest of the group returns back to Halong
City. We took another 45 mins of journey on the boat before arriving at Catba Island.
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| On our way to Catba Island |
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| Taking in the beautiful sights at the front deck of the boat |
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| Yippie!! We are reaching CatBa Island soon! |
Upon reaching the Island, another guide picked us at the Khu Vuc Pier which we alighted from and drove us across the scenic little island to check into our designated hotel. The view from the Hotel was fantastic though amenities were very basic. It has been a
relatively long day for us, so we just ate some dinner provided by our hotel and went
to explore the night market located right beside our Hotel and made arrangements for our Day Tour on the island the next day.
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| Let's get off at the Catba Khu Vuc Pier! |
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| Our drive across the peaceful Catba Island to our hotel on the other end of the Island |
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| Beautiful view of the surrounding bay and sunset from our hotel on the CatBa Island |
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| Checking out the night market after dinner, Catba Island |
Going to turn in early in preparation for our visit to the Hospital Cave & the 15km hike
across the Catba National Park the next day!
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