Iqbal and I took a packaged tour to Ha Long Bay. Sometimes this is simply the best way to go. In addition to having all the travel, planning, and lodging details taken care of, a packaged tour is a great way to meet people. It may be the best way in Vietnam. During the bus ride from Ha Noi to Ha Long City, we met a few nice people. Once we arrived at Ha Long City and boarded our boat, we met the rest of the group, about a dozen people. We spent the night on the boat out on the bay. The quarters were a bit cramped, but fairly nice. There were some complaints of errant mice scurrying about some of the cabins, but nothing, you know, major. Anyway, we met a very nice married couple from Cairns, Australia, who go by the names of Kyne and Storm. He's Kyne and she's Storm. While Storm is certainly an interesting name, Storm herself struck me as far from it, instead being rather peaceful and calm. We also met 2 women from the Netherlands, Sol and Simone, and a young German lad named Nino. At least he told us that was his name. After the night on the boat (there was rumored to be some drinking that night), we spent a night on Cat Ba Island after doing a hike there and visiting Monkey Island ealier in the day. Monkey Island is very small, but there are accomodations there in the form of small cabins on stilts. The 7 of us decided to extend our Ha Long Bay stay an extra day and spend the third night on Monkey Island. Think Gilligan's Isle for a day. We were joined by another lost expedition, so we had about 15 people on the island that night, doubling or tripling its population. Other than the social aspect of it, there was really no reason to spend much time on Monkey Island as it's too small and a bit boring. But as you're most likely dying to know, yes there are monkeys there! But they're said to be aggressive and a bit disagreeable. In fact, one of the staff informed us that about a month ago, a tourist was bitten by a monkey. He dropped his bag containing his passport, among other things, and the monkey is now the possessor of it. I hope Homeland Security is looking out for this simian imposter. They're not as harmless as you think.
This is really how it looks! This is one of those places whose photos evoke disbelief. You really have to see it to believe it. Don't settle for this photo. This is where the boat anchored for the night. The structures are small floating houses inhabited by fishermen and their families.
And here's Iqbal looking fresh as a lotus. The rare yellow variety of course.
Here we disembark for a tour of an incredible cave/cavern on Cat Ba Island. Cat Ba Island is a Vietnamese national park. That's Nino in the light green shirt and Sol (pink) and Simone (yellow).
It's not called Monkey Island for nothing! Apparently this species prefers rooftops to treetops. Actually there was a group of them that had gained access to the attic or upper part of the building through an open panel on the roof. They enjoyed tossing down bags of chips and cans of beer to us gawkers on the ground.
Not a lot to do on Monkey Island. Here, Nino takes a break from the hectic pace to reflect on whether there might be a better way. We're all awaiting his answer.
Kyne beams proudly after conquering Monkey Island's highest peak. And he did it without supplemental oxygen!
The sun sets on another ideal day. Bonfire followed soon thereafter.
No comments:
Post a Comment