Swimming with dragons

Originally, Hanoi was named Thăng Long, which means ascending or rising dragon (also the name of my hotel). This stems from a legend, and the dragon that rose eventually had to come to rest. Hạ Long means descending dragon, and it is where the dragons that defended Vietnam decided to live. Today, it is possibly one of the most-visited sites in Vietnam and is rallying to be named one of the seven modern natural wonders of the world. It is also featured in the Academy Award winning film "Indochine" and the episode of Top Gear that takes place in Vietnam.


Saturday morning we loaded up on to a bus headed for Hạ Long Bay. In my journal I jotted:

Headed to Hạ Long Bay. Santa Gertrudis cows, lotus fields, banana fields, water buffalo, people working rice fields. Conversations with a Kiwi kiwi orchard owner who disturbingly detailedly described the proper way to cook a human. Rain-washed windows, mountains hiding in mist and clouds, listening to my 'Rogue Fleet' playlist. Urbanity clustered at the edge of the road fading away into fields, construction workers in conical straw hats. "If you survived the nuclear holocaust and your only source of protein was cockroaches, how would you prepare them?" "If you had to choose between more ultimatums or eating the ultimatum giver, which would you choose?" Photographs that would have been make my heart twinge as they are left behind in the rainy dust.

 The bus ride was a long and drizzling three-plus hours but eventually we made it to the docks, where we took a transfer boat and boarded the Galaxy Cruise ship with the sun on our shoulders. Lunch was first and not soon enough. We had some time to rest and then it was time for the first activity. 

My new shorts!

We got on the transfer boat again, which when not in use clung to the back of the ship like a remora to a shark, and were taken to Surprising Cave. I have been to a fair number of impressive caves and caverns in my life, so I spent most of the time trying to figure out what might make it so surprising. While the cave was beautiful, I felt like its treatment was lackluster and highlighted the difference between the US and Vietnam. Here, the walls were graffitied and though there were ropes along the path, there was no warning asking that people not touch the walls or formations. I felt like an American cave specialist might cry at the sight of people wantonly touching wherever they pleased, and even being urged to rub the lucky turtle formation. Furthermore, certain formations were lit with colorful lights, making this seem more like some sort of constructed theme park.

The surprise?

Doesn't this look like it could be from The Goonies or something?

Next was the activity that was most worthwhile: kayaking! Violet and I partnered up, and once we got away from the flurry of paddling tourists it was very enjoyable. We saw schools of tiny jumping fish and there were hawks everywhere, with the strangest, fakest sounding caw ever. We drifted under a pair on a high branch and we stared each other down until, in unison, they spread their wings and soared to another rock. We only had an hour or so to kayak before it was time to head back to the transfer boat.

When we got back on the ship we set out for where we would put down anchor for the night. We had been told that we might be able to swim there, but that there were a lot of jellyfish around. In one of those funny mistranslation kind of moments, our guide said 'I recommend you the jellyfish', by which he meant to caution us about them. This whole idea of there being jellyfish around seemed odd since we hadn't seen any all day, but sure enough, as soon as we reached our stopping point, there was a jellyfish lazily drifting not too far from our boat. Wisely or not, we took our chances. One by one we jumped in from the top deck of the boat to each other's shouts of 'một, hai, ba!' (one, two, three!). I don't know if the resultant waves wafted the jellyfish away, but we didn't have any encounters. As I floated on my back the surreality of the moment struck me. There I lay, with my eyes just above water level and a 360 degree view of the horizon during a pinking sunset, the dome of the sky above me, in the water of Hạ Long Bay. How did my life bring me to that moment? We were warned that there would be even more jellyfish after dusk, so I got out of the water in time to photograph the end of the sunset.

Once the sky grew dark I saw the stars for the first time since I got here. And boy could I see stars. There were so many it was hard to pick out the few constellations that make it through the filter of city lights and smog that I am used to. Mars hovered between two karsts and the Milky Way banded the sky directly above us.

This morning we were summoned to breakfast at 730, which seemed cruelly early until I remembered that with my current schedule that's technically sleeping in. We had some time to relax and sun on the top deck before our next activity. It was then that my weekend finally sank in. I think I had been in a haze of disbelief for much of the first day, and the swarm of tourists interfered with my appreciation of the natural beauty. Here, finally, we were out on the water and I realized how amazingly breath taking everything around me really was. Later we moved to the transfer boat again; we were to take a tour of Hạ Long Bay's picturesque floating villages. While charming, it felt disconcerting to zoom through people's watery yards, snapping pictures. Can you imagine driving through suburbia hoping to catch a sight of its inhabitants through windows and open doors?

We were told that kids usually take the family boat to the floating school, but if their parents are out fishing when it is time to go to school, they just strip down, put their books in a plastic bag, and swim to class. After our tour of the village we had to be back for a cooking class. It very quickly became apparent that this was more a pretense of an activity than an informative session. We watched as our guide mixed all of the ingredients for spring rolls, doled out a heap of filling on a sheet of rice paper, and instructed us to roll it. Once the rolling was finished the rolls were whisked away to be cooked by the chef. I admit that as annoying as that perfunctory activity may have been, I was glad that it didn't render last weekend's investment a waste of time and money.

Once we had been fed it was time to return to dry, stable land, and we did so reluctantly. After our visit to Ninh Binh last weekend and this trip to Hạ Long Bay, it has become apparent that tour companies put a premium on organizing activities rather than letting travelers have down time or free time. While on paper this makes for a fuller experience and offers more bang for your buck, after my packed weekdays I just want time to exhale the city and inhale paradise.