How long Halong Bay?

Our well deserved boat trip took us to the Gulf of Tonkin where we spent two nights winding our way through limestone pinnacles rising from the water. This natural wonder consists of 3,000 islands, yet another UNESCO World Heritage site in Vietnam. 'Ha long' means where the dragon descends into the sea. This name came from a legend describing a dragon running through the mountains with his tail gouging out holes in the earth, creating the emerald bay and vegetation covered islands. Upon embarking on our two night prescription tour, we were assigned a boat with a group of strangers, most of who happened to speak Spanish. Thanks to two Argentinean couples, two sisters traveling from Espana and Lisa's Mexicaness, Gabi was immersed in 48 hours of free Spanish lessons.

Our first day consisted of venturing through a tunnel of limestone, which opened up to a natural enclave of turquoise bathtub degree water surrounded by mountain high luscious vegetation covered limestone walls. Hawks swarmed in the blue sky above and swimming in the pool was a luxury to say the least. Following this bath, we entered a cave on the second island along with maybe 400 other Vietnamese tourists, (who were on spring break), and a crowd of 18 year old partying Aussies. The tour fell short of a Disney type excursion consisting of neon lights highlighting rock formations. We were relieved to flee to another set of islands where we kayaked and enjoyed the sun. Our day ended by jumping off the top of the boat hand in hand with our fellow travelers and singing Happy Birthday in three languages to the 27 year old Dutch birthday boy. The enjoyable swim ended by Gabi being viciously attacked by a jelly fish and started screaming "something’s biting me, everyone get out of the water!!!" The lull of the ocean rocked us to sleep in our tiny 100 degree cabin, leaving us completely drenched in sweat and plastered with mosquitoes.

We were awakened by the discomfort of sweat drenched sheets and our prompt breakfast schedule. Moving on to Cat Ba Island, we disembarked our boat only to be abandoned in the scorching sun awaiting further instruction. Over two frustration filled hours, we headed to Cat Ba national park for a trek in hopes of spotting our first Vietnam wildlife. Lisa confronted her fear of heights by scaling up a rusted observation tower with a rewarding 360 degree view of the park. While we failed to spot any wildlife, we successfully spotted our German friend Robert, who was traveling with a different tour company. At the bottom of the trail we drenched each other with fresh well water (not sweat for a change), which we brought up ourselves in buckets. Leaving the park, we were deposited in the town of Cat Ba where we visited beaches and stayed the night in a local guest house with our entertaining and ever so educating Spanish speaking amigos. Although a bit touristy for our liking and with too many bouts of uninformed wait times, Halong Bay was breathtaking and the company of our new friends made the excursion enjoyable.