Vietnam - Halong Bay, Day 3 to Hanoi, Day 3

We wake up to more fog and a bit of drizzle this morning – Halong Bay, or Bai Tu Long Bay, where we are right now, is probably even more magical, or perhaps surreal, in the thick fog, as the limestone islands seem to just endlessly appear then disappear. 

Thank goodness for GPS – we’re not sure how the captain would know how to navigate through this sea of karsts otherwise!  We start sailing back to Halong City after breakfast, and have our last meal onboard just before we get back to port  – we’re all quite sad to leave, it’s been a marvelously relaxing few days, and we’re just getting to know each other…

There are some great views are bright green rice paddies all the way back to Hanoi, which we reach around 5pm.

A few hours later, we head to our new favorite restaurant, Quan An Ngon, for an early dinner. We’re seated next to an American couple, and the husband’s two buddies from university, who are apparently fly experts – the conversation is so fascinating that Mike and I are too busy eavesdropping to talk to each, and finally join their conversation! The couple both work for the US State Department and are actually moving to Zambia soon, where we’ll be in a few months, and we find out all sorts of incredibly interesting  things from the fly experts, such as that Zebras and other African animals have evolved stripes to throw off the Tse Tse fly! Now that’s another one of those random facts that I will not forget J

Vietnam - Halong Bay, Day 2

I wake up early this morning to check whether there may be a chance of sunrise, but no,  it’s foggy, so we might as well sleep some more!

Breakfast is at 8:15am – we start with a bowl of Pho and then have the usual fried egg on toast – it’s our first Pho for breakfast, and actually, I think I could probably have this every day! Mike is definitely enjoying a few extra slices of jam on toast though J

At about 9:30am, we anchor up by one of the seven a floating villages in Halong Bay. It has a population of 160, so is relatively small, and has existed since Halong Bay was designated a World Heritage site in 1994. The government then took on a greater role in controlling fishing practices and pollution which meant that the fisherman who used to live on their boats, were now grouped into floating villages.

We are picked up by a flotilla of small rowing boats manned by the village girls – it’s nice and peaceful rowing to the village. We are greeted in the communal house with a cup of tea, then visit the chief’s house and the school. Teachers stay in the villages all week, then return home for the week-end. The fishermen here catch fish and keep them in the hull of the boat which is pierced with holes and therefore designed to store fish live. They also do some fish farming, where they catch smaller fish, grouper, snapper, sea bass, and farm them in pools by their homes.  Traders then usually come by to buy the catch to sell in Halong City.

We have another 10 course lunch followed by a wonderful nap, then venture out to a small beach for a wander in the late afternoon.

Tonight we are having dinner in a cave. At 7pm we jump on the small boat to be ferried to the beach we were at earlier, and climb up some illuminated steps to a wonderful illuminated cave with little tea lights leading all the way to a wonderfully dressed dining table.  All the prawns, chicken, squid, fish have been barbecued tonight and is quite delicious. The presentation is also wonderful as each dish is accompanied by a vegetable sculpture: an eagle, a hill tribe house and finally a beautiful junk.  Classical music plays in the background until the end of the meal when the crew sings us a song, and Tony, our guide, strums a few more tunes on his guitar. What a gorgeous evening!

Before bidding goodnight to our fellow passengers, we have a little coffee with Kahlua back on the boat – the coffee has been consistently good so we ask to see the packaging, and discover that it’s the infamous weasel poo coffee! Apparently its wonderful rich, soft flavor comes from the fact that the digestion process produces a coffee with much less bitterness...

Vietnam - Halong Bay, Day 1

We’re up early this morning to be ready for our transfer to Halong Bay around 8am. It’s a 3.5 hour van ride but it goes by quite fast as we chat to the others sharing our ride. We take a loo break at the halfway point and visit a store which makes porcelain and lacquered pots on location. There are also pearls and lots of semi precious stones on sale, but this seems to be the case everywhere we go! 

Pot Factory

Lizards in Whiskey...for virility?

We had been warned that Halong Harbor is quite hideous and extremely busy, but the Indochina-Junk embarkation area is actually quiet and pretty enough. Our guide, Tony, introduces himself and we transfer to the boat shortly after. We are 16 guests onboard which seems like a nice number of people.

Halong City Harbor

Dragon's Pearl I

Our room :)

One of the 4 dining tables

The Sun Deck... Just in case the sun does decide to make an appearance!

As we sail away amidst hundreds of limestone outcroppings, we feel quite Zen J

An 8 course lunch is served shortly after we set off on Indochina Junk's Dragon's Pearl I, and it is all quite delicious: lotus seed and red bean soup, salad, clams with pineapple, prawns, fried oysters, with herbs, fish with ginger and chili, all wrapped up with some fresh fruit.

Red Bean and Lotus Seed Soup

Clams with Pineapple

Deep-fried Prawns with Garlic and Butter

Deep Fried Vong Vieng Minced Oysters with Herbs

Seasonal Fresh Fruit

We have a bit of a nap after lunch then go out for an hour’s kayaking amongst the forest of  enormous limestone karsts – there are actually quite a few beautiful little white sand beaches but it’s certainly not bathing suit weather!

Dinner’s another 10 course meal – thank goodness we’re only spending a couple of days on the boat or they’d be rolling us off! Then we try out a little squid fishing, or more precisely watch 3 of our boating companions give it a go – without much success…  Our guide did catch five whilst we were having dinner though! The water is full of phosphorescents so it’s fun to watch the fish swim about leaving a trail of blue light in their wake.

The squid caught by Tony

We head off to bed, but are very excited for Nicole when, a little while later, we hear her squeal with delight when her patience pays finally off and she catches a squid!!