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South-East Asia's limestone magic Phang Nga and Halong Bay
ARTICLES, SPEECHES AND OTHER READING
CAVEMAN'S MEDIA
SOUTH-EAST ASIA'S LIMESTONE MAGIC PHANG NGA AND HALONG BAY
John "Caveman" Gray
Kim Fay's South-East Asia, Guidebook, 2003
Tropical, lush, beautiful and beyond the imagination, complicated Halong
Bay, North Vietnam and South Thailand's Phang Nga Bay inspired Oriental
tapestries. Local boatmen and bird's nest harvesters knew the angular
limestone karst was packed with wildlife protected by terrain impossible to
traverse, but Europe's Great Explorers left these estuaries basically
unexplored. Shallow muddy bottoms laced with uncharted rocks form graveyards
for deep-keeled sailing ships; protected bays become instant mud flats.
Salt-water crocodiles complicated detailed explorations in Phang Nga's
wetlands until the 1970's, but porosus doesn't live in Halong.
When we kayak-explored Phang Nga in 1989 and Halong in 1992, we found tidal
sea caves and inland lagoons within the coastlines, so I developed a "Tidal
Technology" allowing kayak entries to these lost worlds. Ever since,
naturalists paddle literally inside the islands to observe cliff-lined tidal
sumpholes previously untouched even by indigenous people.
Accessible only through inhospitable oyster-caves, Hongs (Thailand) or
Phongs(Vietnam) form unique tidal wetland enclaves of untouched Nature.
Floating through sparkling limestone caverns into untouched tropical
habitats is a sacred experience - a Time Machine taking people back to
before humans walked the Planet. The Guardian (UK) recently called our
Phuket trip "a spiritual experience."
Estuarian limestone is Magic because it's complicated. As Our Stone cools,
continental plates shrink and migrate, wrinkling Earth's skin. 350 million
years ago this cradle of life boasted the largest coral reef in history.
Tectonic pressure uplifted the coral, creating brittle, limestone ridges
that eventually break into porous rocks - today's islands - floating across
Earth's crust like ice cubes bouncing in a cocktail. Tropical rains
percolate through the limestone, dissolving rock into Swiss-cheese by
creating sumpholes, underground rivers and caves.
Naturally changing sea levels rotate the karst from river delta to highland
forests to tidal estuaries. Only 18,000 years ago, the Strait of Malacca was
a river valley - beaches were 100 miles west of Phuket's resorts. Halong was
a mountain range 100 miles from the sea. Sometimes mountain, sometimes
island, sculpted by fresh water rivers and marine tides, these lush
locations became unimaginable fairytale lands.
Thailand's oxide-stained Phang Nga Bay is colorful and delicate, while
massive Halong Bay is more complicated and majestic. Fresh water corrodes
alkaline limestone faster than sea water, so rivers played were important in
forming these bays. The trained eye can easily see submerged ancient
riverbeds and how their waters sculpted the archipelagos.
Kayak exploration allows true intimacy with these unique wetlands, but you
won't see the best locations in off-the shelf toy inflatables or
Eskimo-style decked kayaks. As out of place in tropical waters as a dogsled
in Tonga, decked kayaks are downright dangerous in small and intricate tidal
sea caves. To do caves right, you need a highly stable, low profile,
ultra-tough inflatable.
Successful exploration adapts to local conditions, and tidal caves have very
specific conditions. Created when tides exploit a limestone fault line, the
highly irregular caves can extend kilometers through sharp obstructions,
screaming tidal currents and carpets of oysters. The ceiling is usually the
high tide line so we frequently lie flat on the kayak's floor, noses
scraping oysters, twisting and turning in strong currents around rocks or
stalactites, jamming our custom designed SOTAR Lexitron inflatables into
oyster hotels, adding sound effects to the drama of entry.
We play a five-dimensional game - the usual three plus time and currents.
Cave configuration changes with tidal levels, and each cave has its own
"Windows of Opportunity", the time when a cave can be traversed. Tidal
currents provide the fifth dimension. Two hours after a cave is dead still,
cave currents can be potentially fatal - usually at the best entry level for
that cave.
Both locations still retain their own on-the-water culture and plenty of
bizarre coastal paddling. Shrimp farms are eating Thailand's wetlands, but
Phang Nga still has wildlife, expansive mangrove and a few camping beaches.
You can paddle Phang Nga independently, but not Vietnam.
Asia is an exotic place, but for me, Nature doesn't get any more "exotic"
than these two bays. |
