One thing I've learned about travel through the years (actually, you could probably apply this tenet to life in general, but I'm not going to even pretend that I've learned anything about life) is that it's all about managing expectations. I'll never feel any love at all for the pyramids, because I had no clue going in the level of filth that comes with that experience. In the same way, I really liked Hanoi despite the touts that can sometimes be irritating, because I knew they'd be there, asking me to buy some little trinket or other.
And full disclosure, Ha Long Bay has long been one of those places I've dreamed about seeing. I've seen the pictures so often--the beautiful blue sky, the green-ish hue to the water, the towering monoliths pushing up from the sea from out of nowhere. Anyone with even a vague interest in travel photography has seen the pictures. And it's even more majestic in real life. From a distance, you can't even tell that out in the bay there are almost 2,000 islands--it looks just like a wall of stone and greenery. It's only as you get up close that you start seeing the gaps in the islands and the maze of waterways through them. It was insanely surreal.
But that's sort of where the magic ends. So the way everyone of a certain set (read: of a certain budget) gets out to Ha Long Bay is by taking a bus from Hanoi and then an overnight cruise on an 80 foot or so boat, which holds about 16 people. You can extend that cruise and stay one day on Cat Ba Island, one of the bigger islands in the bay, as well if you'd like. I opted for just the overnight on the boat, costing about $80, which included meals and entrance fees, plus a guide and said bus to and from Hanoi. Sounded good to me, and truthfully (look--more expectations!), I had just had a FANTASTIC experience on a very similarly-sized boat earlier this year.
Arriving at the boat, they're quick to feed you so you're all happy and fat! And, like I said, Ha Long is beautiful from a distance, and as you get close, it's SO COOL darting through all these little islands and feeling like Magellan on a small scale.
And, wait! Look now! I'm ooh-ing and ahh-ing my way through massive underground caves! And hooray, lets go kayaking! Ohmigosh, I'm in Ha Long Bay, kayaking around all these islands I've seen on Pinterest thousands of times! I'm here! I'm here! I'm here!
But wait--what's that oil slick in the water? And do you smell that sort of dirty bathroom smell? And why are plastic bottles and rotten fruit floating by this kayak that I was just moments ago so pleased with fitting through a tiny gap? Oh wow, and thank god we haven't (amazingly?) tipped over, because this place is dirty. Like, badly polluted. Remember how I said I wanted to jump off the boat for a swim? I'm taking that back now.
And that, my friends, is how you clobber expectations in a matter of seconds. Once I'd started seeing the garbage fouling up the water, I couldn't un-see it. And it was just so disappointing and so, so sad. Especially when you find out that it's actually not the tourists destroying this place like happens so often, but the locals, who don't seem to have a hint of the gem their ruining by throwing all their trash into the sea. Maybe, if you have more money to spend on a boat that goes a bit farther into the bay and away from the hoards of people living in boats off the nearer islands, the water gets cleaner. I'd like to hope so anyway.
And then not only that, but the budget boat I was on turned into a Budget Boat with those capital B's after the sun went down. The AC so highly promoted in the cabins went off for good at about 3am. You had to have your person and all of your belongings out of your cabin by 8am so they could clean the rooms for the next set of people who would be boarding as soon as our group disembarked.
And immediately after breakfast, another boat pulled up next to ours and ferried all of its passengers onto our boat, meaning now there where not enough chairs to sit on for everyone for the next four hours. (Side note: When that happened, despitey annoyance, I couldn't help thinking it was a cool little mini psych experiment. I've never seen an "us vs. them" mentality happen so quickly. I felt like this is how Survivor contestants must feel like at the merge--get off of my island, you bloody ingrates!)
I know you get what you pay for, but there just seems like there must be a better way. A better way to see Ha Long Bay, and certianly a better way to keep it clean. It's sort of a shame that the biggest thing I wanted to see in Vietnam has so far been the worst overall experience. And one I'm not sure I'd recommend to anyone else. That can't be what the Vietnamese tourist board is going for with its most spectacular World Heritage site.
So, yep. Expectations -- they'll get you every time.