World Cruise: Vietnam

HA LONG BAY - After leaving bustling Hong Kong we sailed to our first of three stops in Vietnam. We were up on the front deck of the ship at 6:00 a.m. as we sailed from the Gulf of Tonkin into Ha Long Bay in the north part of Vietnam near Hanoi. It was a cool, foggy morning which gave the arrival a mystical feel as the islets and outcrops appeared through the fog as we sailed deep into the inlet that led us to the bay where we dropped anchor. Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site with over 3,000 uninhabited tall islands jutting dramatically out of the water. These amazing formations are caused by wind and water. Though the islands are uninhabited, there are several villages scattered throughout the area where people live on the water. They make their living fishing so there are colorful fishing vessels all around. The children attend a small school on the water and are taught by volunteer teachers.

Since becoming a UNESCO site, there is now a flourishing tourist industry here. In addition to the variety of fishing boats, there are also junks, ferries and rustic houseboats all around. We took a tour that combined a junk boat cruise and kayaking tour among the islands and the floating village. There were about 24 of us on our tour. The junk boat looked pretty run down from the outside, but inside it was beautifully furnished with lacquered wood furniture, chandeliers and table linens. It was sparkling clean inside. We toured around in the junk boat, then kayaked for about 2 hours among the outcrops and through tunnels, then returned to the junk boat for a delicious multi-course Vietnamese lunch, including a Vietnamese beer called "333". We finished our tour with a stop at a huge cave we climbed through. It is so large, the local water village residents use it for refuge during typhoons. It was also used by the water villagers years ago to escape the bombings during the many war years in the past.

It was a memorable day for us to experience this breathtaking natural beauty and to get a glimpse into this remote, simplistic lifestyle.