Bounce Magazine March 2015

MARCH 2015 | ISSUE #29
By Matt hulland
Travel
Ha Long Bay, in Northern Vietnam, is not a name you may
be familiar with, but I’m pretty sure you will have seen the
images before.
When you think about the
mysterious Far East many of you
will conjure up images of lush, tree
covered rocky outcrops, majestically
rising from the ocean whilst
delicately blanketed in a thin layer of
mist with small fishing boats dotted
around to add a sense
of humanity to one of
nature’s finest gifts.
Recently I visited Hanoi, Vietnam’s
capital of the North, and had the
opportunity to fulfil one of many
childhood dreams and visit Ha
Long Bay. The bay itself is just
about achievable in a day trip, it’s
quite a slog, a 4 hour bus journey
Ha Long Bay
followed by a 3 hour bay tour
then 4 hours back again, but definitely do-able. You
can visit from Hanoi for longer with lots of options
for all budgets, but I was up against it time wise,
hence the day trip option suited me.
I woke up nice and early and set off at 6am to make
it for the 12pm boat tour. The bus ride was nice; a
little cramped with the obligatory two souvenir shop
stops along the way, but nothing I wasn’t used to by
now. But what about the boat trip? Wonderful?
69
Awe inspiring? Everything I’d ever imagined? Well… I
couldn’t tell you, as I didn’t get off the dock! The boat
was cancelled due to a typhoon that was somewhere
in the area. From where I sat I could see a couple of
peaks, teasing me on the horizon over a calm sea, but
no, a typhoon was heading my way and all boats are
staying docked. I couldn’t believe that the one time
I encountered any semblance of health and safety in
Asia, it’s the place that inspired me to travel since I was
a small, well, smaller
In hindsight, once the
disappointment had drifted away you
have to accept that when you are
travelling and you try to pack a lot
in, there will inevitably be setbacks
along the way. You can’t be mad at
the people making the call not to
send the boats out, but you can get
miffed when the tour company still
has left me with an itch to return.
want to charge you for the bus ride,
but that’s another story. At least, like
any wonderful place in the world, it
Matt is a travel writer sharing stories of
his trips with us.
He has a website set up for travel advice that can be
found at www.matthulland.com and has two books
currently available on Amazon with a third and fourth
in production.