Retirement gives a person an extremely vantage position to view life. You can look back leisurely and examine all that one has done without any rancor. Then I realized, I had hordes of stories to tell, analyze various incidents, make up a few and so on. I have written on many aspects of life – grand children, marriage, art of drinking, cooking, bull fights and the list is endless. My childhood days in Bengaluru figures prominently. Apart from life and people, I have also written extensively about our travel to various places in India and abroad. Blog also includes a few articles about my life as a naval officer. Incidentally the blog is read by viewers from 83 different countries.
Being in the navy I was able to see many facets of the magnificent sea. Through passage of time I was able to observe and be a part of the nature’s creations- mesmerizing beaches, sea fronts, harbours, islands, lagoons and never ending stretches of different and varying coastline. But, nothing had prepared me to absorb one of nature’s wonders – breathtaking ‘Ha Long Bay’ located in the Gulf of Tonkin which is 165 km from the capital Ha Noi.
Halong Bay features hundreds of limestone karsts and islands. Karsts are gigantic lime stone formations jutting out from the sea in various sizes and shapes. The bay has a 120 km long coastline and is approximately 1,553 square km in size with 1969 islets. Several of the islands are hollow, with enormous caves, while others support floating villages of fishermen.
In 1994, the core zone of Hạ Long Bay was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site.
No amount of writing can bring out the beauty of these formations, majestically jutting out from the blue sea into the open sky. The bay along with Sung Sot cave is a rare visual experience one should plan to see in their life time. A long and steep climb takes you into the hallow of the Karsts. The narrow and winding path suddenly breaks into a cave of unimaginable proportions. Call it what you may – nature’s grand theater, art house or museum, it holds one and all in instant captivity.
From Ha Noi it’s a four hour drive to the bay. En route the tapestry gradually changes from low lying paddy fields to hilly green. On reaching the bay you embark one the many boats for an extremely eventful day and night cruise along the coast. The boats are very well appointed with good cabins and private sit outs to enjoy the view. Variety of Vietnamese cuisine enthralls the guests along with an amazing cooking demonstration.
The only downside to this tour was paucity of time. This being a package, I found too many activities were rolled together. I would have preferred a slow and evenly spaced unfolding of events giving us more time to sit in the open deck, sip beer and enjoy the nature’s bounties.
If I were to go again I would try to get a customized two nights cruise.
Until then ‘Chill Madi”
Our abode for one night
View of the harbour
A boat cruising along
A lonely island
A group of islands
The extent of the lime formation
Odd shapes and size
Entrance into the cave
Sushuma and Jai after a steep climb
View from the top
A group of boats tied together
A local trader
Opening to the cave
Simply enormous
It takes different shapes
Yet another view
See the size of the cave in comparison to the visitor at the rear
The gang
The depth is mind blogging
The idol like formation in the centre attributed to image of ‘Lord Ganapati”
Captain MV Prabhakar is an alumnus of National Defence Academy. He was commissioned in the Indian Navy on 01 Jan 1970. He is a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington and completed his post graduation at the Collage of Naval Warfare, Mumbai. He participated in the 1971 Indo Pak war and IPKF operations in Sri Lanka in 1989.After retirement from the navy he worked in MACMET Technologies Limited, Bangalore/CAE India developing simulators for the Indian Defence Forces. He is married to Jayanti who is an educationalist. They have a son and daughter and four grandchildren. Pubs is a keen golfer and loves cooking. He also spends time looking after the garden.He is a avid traveler and blogger.
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Captain's Corner 
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