ha long bay

' Fighting roosters' island in the bay

East of Hanoi is the magnificent scenery of Ha Long Bay, an area of limestone karsts less well known than southern China or Thailand’s Andaman coast, but every bit as spectacular. The means of touring them is spectacular too. You go out by junk – one of a fleet of 300 or so – and you can eat and sleep on many of them. We were just there for the day trip and as this is the off season ended up with a junk to ourselves – complete with crew of 5 (not to mention the guide and driver that had brought us from Hanoi – it felt like an expedition from the colonial era).
You sail out of the city port with a distant view of the islands in the mist, and head off until you are suddenly in the middle of them all. The islands loom up all around, their grey cliff faces punctured by clefts and caves, with bird life wheeling effortlessly in and out of the crevices.

Ian on board the junk

We popped into a floating village where each boat/house has a ‘basement’ nursery for fish, that are grown on for market. Or you can buy direct. There is even a local shop that tours in a rowing boat.
We were presented with an enormous lunch on board the junk, with every kind of seafood available locally as well as meat and vegetable dishes. All the time we continued on the journey, with fresh vistas of islands receding to the horizon.
We also visited a cave discovered only 13 years ago, which was one of the most impressive I have seen. These islands are honeycombed with caverns and hidden streams slowly eating away the limestone.