Ha Long Bay (Vietnam)
02 October - 03 October
Every single time, every time that I think of this place I'm accosted by a set of Matchbox 20 lyrics:
'It's sitting by the over overcoat, the second shelf the note she wrote, that I can't bring myself to throw away ....reach down your hand in your pocket, pull out some hope for me, it's been Ha Long Bay, always ain't that right'
For over 15 years, there it's resided, just hanging out in my brain, always linked. A tenuous relationship between Rob Thomas & this glorious UNESCO World Heritage site, one of the new 7 world wonders of the world. I can't be the only one in this world that's associated those lyrics with this place of magnificence, right?
After going back in time and reading some of my earlier musings, here's an OMG moment that I'm slightly ashamed to admit. Going back through the Life full of Saturdays archive I've managed to pull up the following:
It would appear that 15 years doesn't change a hell of a lot in terms of my internal processing unit. I'm either remarkably consistent or desperately short when it comes to creativity. Either way, it doesn't bode well for me establishing a burgeoning career within the arts - which when all things are said and done, was never going to be my point of difference in any case.
Travelling as much as I've allowed myself to do in the last 20 years quite often means that my current travels are punctuated by points that allow me to relive highlights from years gone by. To steal a very average quote on the concept of reminiscing;
'Whatever I like, even after a long time, I still like it. And I reminisce about the moment that I first heard it. That's what I love, just remembering those moments'
It's times like these that I also think of random physics papers that I've read on having memories of the future and how on occasion scientific literature broaches the topic as to whether memories of the future actually exist, and if so, how we perceive them. I'm not so well versed in the topic to extend upon any real discussion but some of the elements of future memories relate to recording the information, accessing the information and making sense of the information. Many a time have I stood in a location, either months or years after an initial event and realised that I had had thoughts and intense feelings about a place, location or point in time prior to a significant event occurring. I understand that many people would dismiss it as pure coincidence or at best, some odd type of romanticism, but I often feel that when you stand in an exact place, at a totally different point in time, within a different set of circumstance, you can't help but feel that deep intrinsic connection to that place in time at which you left that spot. The linear connectivity of time in the single direction of past to future is constantly debated in theoretical papers which attempt to challenge the notion that we can only access memories from an earlier time, i.e., the past. I often associate intuition or situations of automatic warmth or familiarity with me accessing future memories and associating future feelings to the present, which manifests itself in a feeling of some type of certainty. So, with that said, let me quote from my own memories of my last trip to Ha Long Bay that have nothing to do with my discussion but everything to do with my initial thoughts of the surrounding beauty:
'Ha Long Bay is about a 3-4 hour run south-east of Hanoi. Personally the scenery outside of the minivan window for me was the occasional mental snapshot taken between sleeping most of the way out there, from that perspective however it was a pleasant run and one that mentally took only a third of the time in my mind than was actually the case. Now, to fill in those that may not know much about Ha Long Bay, it goes a little something like this, this place is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is basically a vast area (1550kms squared) that features thousands of limestone karts and isles (1960 approx) in various shapes and sizes. It features a dense cluster of monolithic islands, each topped with jungle vegetation, rising spectacularly and quite haphazardly from the ocean. The formation of the area, geologists’ state, was derived from a combination of orogeny (huge tectonic plate shifts), marine regression and marine transgression over a period of nearly 500 million years. In short, the place is visually spectacular and it’s absolutely no surprise that this place was pushing hard to be recognised as one of the seven natural wonders of the world'
Leaving the hotel in Hanoi about 8:30am, we headed east towards the coast line. Not a particularly inspiring drive witch activities mimicking much of what had occurred years earlier, mostly sleep punctuated by moments of attentiveness.
We arrived at our the Ambassador Cruise terminal somewhere about 12:00pm. So for those that haven't been on this sort of cruise the process involves attending a check-in, receiving some sort of cruise identification, waiting around for an amount of time and then being ushered to the boat. Obviously this part of the experience is tedious and boring but it's necessary and not at all problematic, just that its cumbersome.
There are MANY cruise boats running the gauntlet in Ha Long Bay these days. If you're doing a search online you'll succumb to 'analysis paralysis' in your attempt to identify the perfect boat with the best itinerary for situation. My simple advice to you is this. If you're a couple, then a smaller, intimate experience is the go for you. As a single or a family, perhaps the larger, more brash and more overtly boastful options might suit your situation nicely. This is the reason that I selected the Ambassador cruise options. It's one of the larger boats cruising Ha Long Bay, it has plenty of space, fairly luxurious cabins and plenty of different elements of interest to keep each individual occupied during the 2 days & 1 night of seafaring.
For those that want to know, Ha Long Bay is worth the price of admission. The 'monolithic islands', the subtle mists of mystery, the waters of tranquillity, the stillness & calm, it's simply a wonderful experience. Coupled with an exquisite cabin and no demands, it makes the journey blissful ... which of course I KNEW. I KNEW as I had been here before. Not on this line of cruise and not with a family, but I knew that what makes this a glorious experience , just letting the vista wash over you rather than hunting it down through a range of frivolously run activities. To me this was the problem. This Ambassador cruise had its own activity agenda, to which they encouraged, cajoled and eagerly thrust their guests onto in an overly produced and not well thought out schedule. From what I remember it went something like this:
10:00 - 12:00 - check in at the Ambassador lounge
12:00 - 12:30 - Passengers transferred from lounge to the cruise ship
12:45 - 14:00 - Buffet lunch
14:30 - 15:30 - Luon cave - kayaking / bamboo boat ride
16:00 - 17:00 - Titov island visit
17:30 - 18:30 - Happy hour
19:00 - Dinner
20:30 - 22:30 Poor music and karaoke or squid fishing in your undies
My recommendation to Ambassador cruises - please, just slow it the hell down. The pace is unnecessary.
We all go so swept up in the whirlwind of activity calls, boat departures, the need to 'experience' and meeting departure deadlines that we truly forgot about what was around us. There's no need for that much 'stuff' to occupy your time when your in a place like this. What we really should have done is occupied a space in the sun outside our cabin or on the top deck and simply enjoyed how peaceful it was. We didn't need to add any more than that. I'm not complaining mind you, our experience was great, I just know that we may have gotten more our of it with a pace that was much more leisurely and comfortable.
I have to say that my absolutely favourite part was the happy hour cocktails at sunset and the 30 min massage I had before heading off to bed. Just a great addition to the experience and something that I need to learn to take advantage of when next the opportunity presents itself.
As for Inga & Aiden, both were first time adventurers to this part of the world and I think they both came away richer for the experience. For Inga this part of the world still very much remains a mystery. Seeing and experience sights such as these that are world renowned but had never made her radar is always a joy from my perspective. Sharing that 'first time' experience quite often reminds me of my own feelings of wonder and awe. As for Aiden, well I hope that there are memories burnt into his own timeline that he'll take with him for the rest of his life - I anticipate that there may be one or two. When I think to my own early memories I do recall travels to Hawaii with my parents when I was both 4 and 5 years of age. Whilst these memories aren't crystal there's still vivid enough and they remain the very earliest of memories that I can retrieve from travels at that age. Here's hoping that he'll have a few of the same style.
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