"Where the Dragon Descends into the Sea"

Fishermen at dawn in Halong Bay

Legend has it that many years ago, a giant dragon came down from the mountains and plunged into the Gulf of Tokin, carving out valleys and gorges with his thrashing tail and in his wake creating the thousands of islets that jut out of Halong Bay. Today, these limestone peaks emerge at hazard from the calm sea with their borders worn away by the force of lapping waves, hazily hovering like mirages above the water. Our guide would not give us any other geologic explanation save for this one, no matter how hard and repeatedly we pressed him, but I remain contented... Some things are better left as wondrous tales.

Cave exploration at low tide

Sailing around the bay for two days on a rented Chinese junk boat, we set out on kayaks (life jacket free - I am sorry but I simply refuse to join those hordes of grinning fluorescent tourist groups donning floating plastic on still waters) and made our way through echoing karst grottoes dripping with condensation, shrouded in darkness and then emerging to spectacular emerald lagoons, deserted save for the sound of our carefully manoeuvred oars and the echoes of an ornithologist's dream in the distance. Always in the back of my mind dwelt the question of what if we waited too long and the tide would rise, sealing off our 'exit' and trapping us for the night..

Local fishing boat heaped with the day's catch

Scattered throughout the jagged pillars floated clusters of fishermen villages, perched miraculously atop meters of bright blue Styrofoam cubes, replete with small grids of fish farms where bounty caught offshore is brought home to be fattened up and then sold to local restaurants and cruise companies. Life begins early here, with the loud sputtering of boats breaking dawn at 4 am, rousing you from your slumber to go up on deck and watch the deepening pastel colour of the sunrise, and ends naturally when the sun goes down. Later, the barks of dogs on board the farms break the still silence of the night, as the same dog keeps hearing its own voice echoed back to it and, not realising, responds accordingly: "Hello! ... Hello! ... Who's there? ... Who's there? ... I asked YOU! ... I asked YOU!" on and on and on.

(Some tips on getting to Halong Bay: Our journey consisted of a four hour train journey from Hanoi to Haiphong, one overnight in a dismal hotel and partaking in the severely limited nightly activities of Haiphong, and a morning hydrofoil boat to Cat Ba island. This means that you avoid the chaos and combustion of Halong City and Cat Ba bay in itself is very beautiful, very similar to Halong Bay and much less touristed. A good starting point.)