We are picked up at 8.00am for the drive to Ha Long Bay. It is a distance of only 97kms but we know from yesterday this will be a long trip!
We stop for coffee at a place that carves marble statues (sensational) but also houses artisans doing tapestries, and lots of beautiful jewelry, pottery etc. Sort of like a co-op. The artisans employed there all have disabilitie which would prevent them from working otherwise - some are even 3rd generation sufferers of Agent Orange. We have no problem makng purchases to a good cause!
Arrival at the dock in Ha Long Bay is just after midday (remember we left at 8.00am with only a 45 minute stop). The day is quite misty and unfortunately the fog does not lift for the 2 days we are here. We board out tender to be taken out to our junk. We are given a welcome drink and then listen to the safety speech, and are told where we will be cruising and what we will see.
There are only 30 people on board and a staff of 32! By the time we get to our rooms our luggage has been delivered and because this is only an overnight cruise we have only brought our overnight bags. Back up to the dining area for a buffet lunch and then out onto the deck to catch our breath.
This bay is so quiet its almost spooky, and breathtakingly beautiful. It is a real shame we are unable to see all over the bay but as we float past all the outcrops of limestone islands we are able to appreciate what it could be like.
We are taken by tender to a floating fishing village and are again rowed around as we were the day we went to Tam Coc. I have seen one of these on Luke Nguyen's cooking show and he said that some of the children living this way have never set foot on land. A fascinating place but you have to wonder what they do for entertainment, and if they get bored - although quite a number of them have satellite dishes!
We are told dinner tonight will not be on the boat. We will be taken to one of the islands for a BBQ in a cave. When we get there we discover it is a limestone cave complete with stalactites/mites. We are able to wander at will and touch as much as we like. Then, for dinner, we sit in the cave on a purpose built platform for a full silver service BBQ - also cooked in the cave.
Conservationists in Australia would have an absolute coronary! As much as it is against all we know about preservation we thoroughly enjoy the experience (although we all wonder just how long this experience will be able to be sustained).
Up early the next morning we sit on the deck with coffee and pastries, as "brunch" will not be served until much later. The choice of activities this morning is either an onshore walk up to a lookout or a cooking demonstration on board. With the mist still hanging around there will be a view of not much so we are staying on board. There are only 6 of us to watch the spring roll making demo and we each get a turn to make one. Our teacher then cooks them for us to eat. YUMMO!
We are back at the dock by 11.00am and of course Chinh is there to meet us. We learn he and our driver had stayed overnight to wait for us. What service!
On the way back to Ha Noi we again stop at the marble place. As we wander around we are recognised and word spreads. I am eventually decended upon to ask if I was the lady who spent $xxx yesterday. I said yes and the look of relief was blinding. Apparently they had given me all copies of the transaction so I still had the bit they needed to give the bank to get their money. The young lady stuck to me like glue until we went to the van to get her bit out of my case. Some days you get luck and some days they do!
We asked Chinh for a recommendation for dinner and he gold us about a place that offers a buffet. Sounds good so he calls ahead and makes a booking for us. It is quite expensive at $15 a head. This is said very much tongue in cheek as the amount of choice is mind blowing. We are the only Westerners in the place, which is encouraging as if the locals fill the place it must be good.
At one point I was heading back for another go at it when a young Vietnamese boy deferred the way to me. I said thank you and he replied "No worries". I decided I couldn't let it pass so turned back to him to tell him that was a very Australian thing to say. Turns out he studied for a few years in Canberra!! We rolled out of the restaurant extremely satisfied and headed back to our hotel for our last night in Ha Noi.
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