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Today we woke early very excited as today was the day we were heading for our cruise on Halong Bay, we had thankfully packed last night so this morning we just freshened up and had a coffee before heading for breakfast. I opted for a local dish of pho bo which is a beef noodle soup and was very tasty while Steven had omelette and bread... All washed down with the usual strong Vietnamese coffee. During breakfast Martin served us and briskly said "the maid made a mistake about the mini bar... Sorry"...mmm didn't seem to sincere but glad the truth was out.
We headed upstairs with plenty of time to find the guide had arrived early to pick us up, we headed upstairs and grabbed our bags before joining the friendly chap in reception. Here he greeted us with a big smile and led us out to a lovely spacious mini bus where we jumped in the front seats, the next half hour was spent rounding up the fellow passengers who would be joining us including an American chap with his Asian wife plus their adorable year old daughter, we were also joined by four older and very rowdy Aussies. The journey to the bay then began and we headed off out of the chaos of Hanoi to be welcomed by the serene rice fields that scatter this land.
After a couple of hours we stopped off at a large workshop for a toilet break and the obligatory selling of local wares, these included some stunning artwork by a small number of local people who were hard of hearing. The workshop was huge and sold everything but given the fact we still hadn't paid for the cruise we thought shopping would be a bit reckless, instead using the loo before heading back to the bus. Steven then decided to go just before the bus took off so we waited an age for him to return before speeding off back down the road. A couple more hours later and we were arriving in Halong city, which is no where near as picturesque as you hope... Its largely being developed with brash hotels springing up everywhere. We headed to the pier where the Indochina Junks office was located and waited in the welcome coolness of the relaxing waiting room. Here we relaxed in the sofas and used the restrooms, which even had fragranced hand soap... You know your somewhere posh in asia when there's hand soap that hasn't been watered down (or absent) and especially when its beautifully scented.
While sitting in the waiting area we were introduced to our guide Muang and the rest of our group, which consisted of five Aussie couples, the American chap with his wife and baby, an Irish family of four, a newly wed couple from Belgium and us. He introduced himself and gave us a brief run down of what would happen in the next ten mins or so, although firstly a few of us had to clear our balances. The American chap (who was a contract corporate pilot) paid quickly followed by the Irish mother who had an envelope wedged with American dollars... Then came our turn. First we tried my 'emergency card' but turned out the pin was required after all so after some deliberation we decided to pay most of it in dong and then the remainder on my card that has a much lower card limit. We waited with baited breath before that eureka moment when the paper spills out the machine and you know it has worked... No washing the dishes for us.
We headed back down and rejoined the group then headed outside towards the pier to meet our boat... Well the smaller boat that would lead us out to the ship. We piled on and found our bags already loaded (such a luxury) before donning the life jackets and spreading off to the 'Dragons Pearl' our home for the next couple of nights. The journey was brief and we admired the boats in the bay before coming up next to the boat and disembarking. We then headed up to the deck where we were welcomed with a drink from a very friendly waiter, before taking a seat in the welcome shade of the deck. Here Muang gave us a brief introduction of the boat and the safety regulations before telling us briefly about the itinerary of the next coupe of days. We were then given the keys to our rooms where we were surprised to find we were on the upper deck when we assumed we would be downstairs like informed yesterday, maybe the woman in the office worked her magic after all.
We headed to our room which we found to be pleasantly spacious and well equipped before freshening up and enjoying a brief blast of air con before heading to the deck for lunch, which was served promptly at one thirty. I headed out first and joined an older australian chap who was sitting at one of the tables waiting for his wife. His name was Rob and himself and his wife Jenny lived in Canberra and were enjoying a short break in Vietnam, soon enough Steven and Jenny joined us and after some brief introductions the lunch started to appear... Firstly we were served a sweet thick pumpkin soup complete with beans and although I'm not really a big fan of the sweetness of pumpkin soup this went down a treat, the next course was a type of spicy and nutty papaya salad, which is always a personal favourite of mine. I love the crunch along with the nutty and sweetness of the peanuts... The food was served on a large plate and shared between the four of us and resulted in a good amount each. Next came a large plate full of succulent and very well seasoned prawns and they were very big and very meaty... Yummy. This was followed by pineapple fragranced clams, which were very light and fragrant... Very tasty indeed. Throughout lunch me and Jenny were eagerly taking pictures of the bay as we floated through the water, the scenery was so beautiful and I couldn't believe our luck with the weather... The sky was clear and a bright shade of blue while the water was turquoise/green and twinkled in the sunlight. We were surrounded by huge limestone karsts that's were covered in lush green vegetation and looked striking in the bright sunlight...the view was then complimented further by the traditional fishing boats that passed us intermittently and looked amazing against the back drop. It wasn't long before the brash and large buildings of Halong city were just a speck in the distance and for this I was glad.
Soon enough we were served the company's speciality of oyster and seaweed cakes, they looked like An onion bhaji yet had a wonderful taste of the sea and were delicious... Although I personally think anything other than lemon juice and a hint of Tabasco or Worcester sauce is an insult to the exquisite taste of an oyster. I would never dream of cooking it in a type of fish cake lol... Was delicious all the same though. The next course was a plate of freshly fished mackerel that had been steamed and served in a soy and chilli sauce, which was very nice and reminded us of the delicate and often forgotten taste of mackerel... More often then not we eat it smoked or dried (very nice also) so it was nice to eat it fresh while still fragrant and light. We then had some morning glory glazed in garlic, this is a type of river seaweed and very popular in Asia and something I really enjoy. The meal was then finished with a big plate of fresh fruit and a cup of coffee... The meal was very nice and a good sign of things to come.
The next couple of hours were spent finding our sea legs and exploring the boat, we then hit the upper deck and enjoyed some well deserved relaxation on the sun deck reading our books... Well actually I spent more time taking pictures and simply gasping at the wonderful view in front of us. It was simply one of the most beautiful sights I've seen during our seven month trip... Breath taking. As the afternoon passed we eventually dropped anchor in a secluded bay surrounded by the vast limestone karsts and still green water, I say secluded but to be honest the actually journey had been pretty secluded in itself with our only companions being the odd local fishing boat... No tourist trips noted. We were soon joined by the aussie foursome who were four friends on holiday together and probably in their late forties, early fifties. They worked in the mines and were very typically enjoying some new found money (didnt need to speak to them as they loudly banded it around). One of the guys couldnt help but saying "oh I wonder what the poor people are doing now?? Oh yeh I don't care"...in the end I just looked at him and said "we're sitting next to you mate". They were a nice enough group (well except one of the wives who was the most annoying person ever) but their constant bragging about money got a little tiring ...specially given they had no class at all and spent most of the trip moaning about life in Oz.
By now it was almost four o'clock and kayaking time was nearing. We headed down to our cabins and put on our swimsuits and shorts as well as the obligatory factor thirty sunscreen before meeting everyone on the lower deck. Steven then went to get something from our room and was gone a while... Again. Apparently he couldn't find his flip flops that he had abandoned on the deck earlier and a very helpful staff member had put safely downstairs. Again we all sat waiting on the smaller boat and he then well and truly earned the title of 'always the last one'. We put our life jackets on before climbing into the kayaks and headed off, now we don't have a lot of experience in kayaking with just a few episodes in Thailand but I thought we were a lot better than we faired.
We had a good rhythm and evenly matched oar skills but for some reason every time we rowed we ended up heading left.... It was very bizarre and very annoying especially when we were miles away from everyone and even the preteens were beating us, Steven obviously found this enraging as he is extremely competitive and this obviously made me laugh... which didn't help a great deal with the steering and we went even further off course. After a five minute prep talk and a count to ten we relaxed and started again finding the relaxed manner helped, well briefly before we headed left again.
Eventually we caught up again with the group and found that we were in a very choppy area of the bay, felt like the open sea as we bobbed up and down on the water attempting to fight the current. After another twenty minutes we headed towards a small beach and disembarked, by now my knees were bruised from rubbing the inside of the canoe, I had red marks on my thumbs from rowing and a carpet burn on my elbow from rubbing on the side of the canoe. The beach was okay and so we sat for a minute... Well I did as Steven couldn't bring himself to leave the canoe and I later found out why as I tried to get back in and fell back into the water getting throughly soaked. In the end one of the younger Aussie couples had to hold the canoe while we we climbed in to the canoe then pushed us out into the water haha.... Like children.
We headed off for another fighting effort to keep straight before we eventually reached the boat and the sanctuary of the dry deck. We went to our cabin and showered in our amazing rain shower before dressing up... And by that I mean wearing one of my only two dresses and putting on some make up while Steven found a clean shirt, a rarity believe me... How glam and out of place were we. We headed out and gave our wine to the waiter to chill for us before heading up to the deck to chat with some of the passengers, we got chatty to the two young couples from Australia... One of the couples only lives twenty five mins away from where we will be staying with Canny. The girl was named Laurie and was really nice, as was her boyfriend, we also thanked the other couple again for saving our butts in the kayaking earlier.
Soon enough it was time for dinner and we made our way down to the deck that was once again beautifully decorated with white linen table cloths, flowers and stunning Chinese inspired crockery. Tonight we joined Laurie and her boyfriend to mix things up a bit and enjoyed chatting with them about Pakenham and what to expect when we get there, feels like we are going to have a social circle waiting. Dinner again was beautiful with mostly seafood and fish... All beautifully seasoned and wonderfully cooked. By the time we were nibbling our creme caramels we were truly stuffed and had throughly enjoyed being waited on and served some of the most fragrant and tasty food.
After dinner we chatted with the couple and enjoyed a glass of wine while some of the guys went fishing for squid. We really enjoyed the fact we were having a lovely dressed up night with good wine, delicious food and great company.... Something we really miss about home. We chatted for an hour or so before grabbing a coffee and retreating to the upper deck to enjoy the view. The view was very mystical with the karsts all around looking eery against the twilight sky, we were the only boat in the bay and it was deadly quiet.... Unfortunately the stars were hiding under a small amount of cloud but that aside the evening was lovely. Soon enough we were feeling pretty shattered and wandered off to bed where we settled into bed and fell asleep to the gently rocking of the boat... Bliss
- comments
Virginia Sounds wonderful! Enjoy your little bit of luxury xxx