Day 11: Lang Son to Quan Lan Island

No more riding - instead today we started with a 4 hour van-ride to the coast. The misty rain continued and despite the interest of the ever-changing scenery, I couldn't help dozing off. I do remember passing a giant coal power plant with its chimney stacks disappearing into the clouds, and driving through the nearby city which was coated in muddy coal-dust.

We reached a small port town on the coast and went for a bit of a wander before lunch. The scenery was similar to the famous Halong Bay (which was a bit further south of us) - imagine limestone crags jutting out of clear green water under a bright blue sky. Or at least, it would have been if everything wasn't shrouded in grey mist...

The dock - our boat was similar to the second one back

Ryan had been looking forward to what had been advertised as a "jet boat" ride out to the island where we would spend the night. Maybe our guide had never seen a jet boat?? We instead boarded a long, low-roofed boat with a noisy diesel engine mounted on the back. I have no idea how the driver managed to safely negotiate the multitude of other craft and islands in the bay - at times the mist was so thick that the windows became covered in moisture and he had to stick his head out the front door to see.

On the "jet" boat

We dropped various other passengers and supplies at a few other island stops before alighting at Quan Lan. We then enjoyed a rather hairy Tuktuk ride along a very rutted, muddy, slippery road to the resort.

The island was quite a popular tourist destination with our resort and several other hotels clustered nearby to a white sandy beach. Except that tourist season was still another month away, and we turned out to be the only foreigners on the island and stayed in an otherwise deserted resort.

The beach was covered in drifts of seaweed and rubbish and the buildings along the shore (which I guess serve as bars and restaurants) were all but derelict. I suppose they have a massive cleanup prior to the influx of tourists. At least it was peaceful.

The beach

Apparently there has been an increasing demand from China for jellyfish, so more and more factories were sprouting up on nearby islands to catch and sell them. We saw a few jellyfish washed up on the beach - they were massive (1m across) and covered in brown spots. Apparently they can get much bigger than this. I'm not at all sure I would like to encounter one while swimming (yet another way that I'm convinced the ocean is out to kill me).

It may have been empty, but at least the resort was nice