The Dragon's Tail

Sarah and I spent two days in Halong Bay on a boat with eight other travellers. The tattered Vietnamese flag, the broken ladder, the sunsets. Halong Bay is a dreamy place. The locals say it was formed by a family of Dragon's sent by the gods to protect the land from Chinese Invaders. Jewels and jade turned into limestone karsts and isles of all different shapes and sizes. In the late afternoon Sarah and I took a kayak to explore. We went under an arch and found ourselves worlds away from everyone. Massive rock walls grew up from the blue water and green trees and vines tumbled down and around through the crevaces. After the kayak we went for a swim around the boat, which was anchored in the middle of all the islands. As the sunset, the colors changed, casting melancholic tones of deep orange and red across the land. We feasted on fresh fish, tofu, vegetables and rice and drank 2 bottles of a good red with a soft-spoken Danish man. In the morning we woke up to a green sea peering into our cabin, casting a cool green glow on our starch white sheets. On the top deck we watched the soft colors of morning turn bright from the rising sun and a hot afternoon as we drifted in and out of islands and other worlds.