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November 9th - 10th
when we arrived in Halong Bay we quickly boarded a small boat that took us out to our Junk then headed out along with many other boats. Megan, Kerry and I shared the largest room located at the back of the main deck. It had 3 single beds and the only private deck which we really did not have time to enjoy. the washrooms were fairly small, to take a shower we had to stand just in front of the toilet which got wet. smart thinking Kerry removed the toilet paper from the holder before her shower, Fran did not think of it and theirs was soaked. Kerry ending up sleeping with the staff out in the dinning room as her bed was right over the generated and was vibrating so much she could not sleep. I slept pretty good, two nights in a row since my healing.
lunch was served soon after we arrived; wonderfully presented fresh shrimp, fish cakes, spring rolls and some white wine. after lunch everyone headed to the top deck to chill and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the limestone mountains. Halong Bay is approximately 1,500 sq km and lies close to the Chinese boarder. the name means "Bay of Descending Dragon"; when the vietnamese were fighting chinese invaders, the gods sent a family of dragons to help defend the land; the dragons began splitting out jewels and jade, the jewels turned into islands and the islets dotting the bay, linking together to form barriers against the invaders.
the group went kayaking while I enjoyed some quite time by myself. when the group returned we continued touring through the many inlets then anchored for dinner, another beautiful meal of sea food, veggies and rice. the evening cooled off so we resorted to stay out side on the lower deck somewhat protected from the wind, the full moon was out but only a few stars. Thoi had a little too much spirit and was getting silly and the others were picking on him, he's a young 23 year old Australian- Vietnamese. He studied to be an accountant and know wants to go into the medical profession which is surprising as he must have used a gallon of hand sanitizer since he arrived in Vietnam. Thinh treats as a little brother and the two of them joke around and give each other the brotherly punch, Thoi tried this on Kerry one two many times until Kerry threatened him to put his life jacket on as he was going to be knocked over board soon, all in fun. Lots of smokers on this trip, some full time, some casual which goes hand in hand with drinking and can our group drink. Paul mentioned this morning he had 15 rum and coke the previous day on the boat, that's $90 us, the drinks are more comparable to western prices depending were you eat/ drink, they must be weak as well.
Missed the sunrise this morning, was up off and on but too lazy to get my butt out of bed, a few of our group managed to haul their butts out and take some nice pictures. Breakfast was nice, decent coffee with real milk, not sweetened condensed, egg, toast with laughing cow cheese, pear apple. so much food and so little exercise, hate to see how much I gained, hopefully can burn some off trekking in Sapa. there was rumblings in the group about skipping the pearl factory and spending more time on the boat, Michael had a good point in that the more time people had they just be sleeping and he preferred just to get going, as it was we only spent about 1/2 hour there. It was interesting to see how pearls are "manufactured" and the difference between real, plastic and stone. the plastic are light weight and burn when held to a flame, the stone leave a residual when rubbed against glass, real pearls do not burn nor leave a residue. oysters are injected with a small ball of mother of pearl and a piece of dyed material which colors the pearl. they are left for 3 years then harvested, the small price of oyster meat kept for consumption. fresh water are farmed in fresh water, the other in salt water. I picked up small studs as I previously lost one of mine as well as black drop pearls to go with the necklace from Gail and Michael at their wedding. we are now heading back to Hanoi to catch the Water Puppet show for 2 then dinner at Koto and goodbyes as everyone starts to part ways.
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