Ha Long Bay is one of the most visited and photographed natural beauties of Vietnam.

You would have seen pictures of rugged rocky islets jutting from emerald water, tranquil lagoons, hidden caves and communities of fisherfolk living and farming the waters on bright floating villages.

You probably haven’t seen images of rubbish floating in these waters. Barnacle-covered bottles used as makeshift buoys, plastic containers lost overboard, and remnants of fishing nets. Sadly, it was everywhere, and we attempted to collect some of this rubbish when we were out on the water, to the bemusement of local tour operators who could not understand our “Keep Australia (or Vietnam) Beautiful” sensibility.

“Halong” means “descending dragon” and according to legend a family of dragons rained down thousands of emerald gemstones onto the bay, with the result being the 1,900 mostly uninhabited limestone outcrops. Their geological age is estimated to be between 250 and 280 million years old.

Getting there requires a 3-hour bus ride from Hanoi, a ferry and another boat trip. There is a myriad of boating choices for your visit. Larger party cruises pump music and flashing lights for the young backpacker crowds, and smaller more intimate boats offer one- or two-night cruises.

We decided to stay for one night on a 5-cabin junk boat travelling to Ha Long Bay’s less-touristy neighbour, Lan Ha Bay. The trip from Sunlight Cruises included the trip from Hanoi, kayaking, bike rides into local village Viet Hai (the dense local jungle was used for parts of a Hollywood King Kong film) and all meals which were prepared by the 3-man crew.

A smaller boat also means you’re more likely to have to interact with the others onboard. Thankfully, we were blessed with a delightful group of French and Swiss tourists. We ate all our meals together, swam in the warm waters, attempted to fish for squid (until our guide Thang told us squid fishing season doesn’t start for another month), had a cooking class making fresh spring rolls, and sang French and English karaoke tunes through the night under fairy lights, cocktails in hands.

Some of the interesting scenes we encountered:

• The stillness in the bay as our kayak cut through the water and watching a solo fisherman paddling his boat with his feet as he leaned back, fishing rod in hand.
• A group of 3 fishermen chugging near our boat at night in the dark, using a bright spotlight and net, pointing and yelling whenever they encountered promising movement from below the water.
• Being offered snake wine with cobras still in the jar, and having hungry fish thrash around nibbling the dead skin from our feet in the tiny village of Viet Hai. The fish thing was disgusting. Do not touch my feet guys.

• Hearing about the endangered Cat Ba langurs that have been hunted for “medicine” into near extinction. The fine is now $700,000 if you are caught with one. Poor babies.
• The surreal experience of a silk shop tour on the bus ride back to Hanoi. No, we didn’t want to do the tour. Yes, we watched agog as the hostess, in a studio kitchen/science lab performed random experiments on silk, bamboo and charcoal items waiting for polite rounds of applause and sarcastic tourists mumbling “wow”. The K-Mart sized shop after was dreadful. Not one tourist bought one thing. “I feel betrayed by our tour guide” muttered one European traveller.

The two-day, one-night adventure was a much-needed moment of stillness in our busy itinerary. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site. I’m not sure people living and working in the area know or care about this, but I do hope they, and people lucky enough to visit, appreciate how magnificent it is and do all they can to keep it looking pristine for years to come.