I had never even heard of Halong Bay when I left England to come to Vietnam for a holiday. I wanted to come here ever since as a young boy I had said with my father watching the daily news conferences from Vietnam, provided the latest information on the war. It was on TV every night and the words, Hanoi, Saigon and Mekong Delta would enter my vocabulary without my ever having experience of them. They just sounded so romantic and I hankered after coming to see for myself for years.
I flew into Hanoi, the idea being to see the city, visit the Mekong then make my way up to hanoi to spend a week there. Saigon was fantastic, it was prettier than I expected. To have a meal in The Rex Hotel, was an emotional ride for me. It was from here that those nightly news reports were broadcast. Sitting here feeling the weight of history, brought emotional memories of my late father, flooding back.
To go to the Mekong Delta was, likewise, a very emotional trip. This was the name that I had heard everyday throughout my formative years. It was alongside, Bob Dylan and the Springfields, the backdrop to my youth. The trip was really cool. Jumping in and out of motorboats and tiny rowing boats we travelled through the tiny side streams to see local people engaged in local industries. Making rice paper for spring rolls and noodles, growing fruit to sell at the floating markets and generally living a life unchanged for a lot long than the days of the war.
After a week in and around Saigon i flew up to Hanoi, looked for some excursions and found myself booking a trip to sail in Halong Bay for two nights and three days. This was the highlight, no doubt about that. It is easily the most amazing place I have ever visited. The scenery blows your mind and makes you realise that no matter how great mankind can makes something, nature always does it better.
It is an enormous area of sea, with hundreds and hundreds of tiny islands that stick out of the water everywhere you look. The boast was very luxurious and we poodled about between these islands for three days, stopping off to visit caves and fishing villages. The food on board was awesome and sitting up on deck enjoying a drink as the sun went down will live in my memory for ever.
I find it hard to believe that I had never heard of this place, it was gained accolade upon accolade. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of the SEVEN Wonders Of Nature, A special Biosphere and many more. I adored Halong bay, and cannot wait to come back and do it all again.