Into Halong Bay. We started the day with a two hour drive with our amazing guide to the port for the 1-night cruise of Halong Bay. Our guide is incredibly smart (we found out later he is a medical doctor and is a tour guide to get more money and have more flexible hours).
No passenger train; this is for farmers and their animals and crops...
The square bodies of water are for farming shrimp and the little huts on the water are for fisherman...
The port looked nice. There was one port with 500 boats and a nicer one with just 5 boats that we left from. Good sign. We were nervous the boat would suck because the company that owns the boat is the one that booked us in the one terrible hotel.
Looks okay from a far...
We tendered out...
The boat is beautiful. Phew!!!
The boat holds 48 people but there are less than 20 on it so it is super quiet. The engine on the boat barely makes any noise so it is silent as we creep into the bay.
The bay is also a World Heritage site. It has thousands of islands. Only half of them are named--most of the names are because of their shape like snail island, baby lion, etc.
The food was outstanding. More Chinese in nature. We later found all the same Chinese influences in restaurants elsewhere (soups similar to egg drop, etc.).
The weather was cloudy but still perfect.
We drank tea as we cruised out.
Then we went to a cave. It was a small cave but amazing looking and very well lit unlike the last ones we saw. This one is setup for them to serve dinner in the cave.
These are freshwater sea shells even though it is saltwater. They found all sorts of artifacts indicating cave men lived in this cave and the sea shells were from their food leftovers.
Looks like a skull:
Then we went to a floating village. This one was super nice and clean. I could live there. Everyone is just hanging out on their paddle boats, fishing, going to school, shopping and the mobile store.
Looks like a dragon:
Supermarket:
Mussel farm:
They row with their feet (or at least the teenagers do):
Our guide was the best; took lots of photos went way ahead and stayed behind to show us different parts including where he lived and where his mother lived.
They all have TV's and cell phones work perfectly thanks to a cell tower on the island at the entrance to the village.
The sun was starting to set so we headed back to the ship.
We watched the sunset on top of the boat.
Then we had a very lively cooking demonstration on how to make spring rolls. We each came up to make one. Mine was the worst. The man on the right would later sing a love song to Jen and I during dinner because it was our honeymoon--super embarrassing but very nice.
Jen has looked like Popeye since we got on the boat.
Just after his love song. He sang it both in Vietnamese and in English.
Then relaxing on the deck before an early bed time. There were boats all around us--500 in total--that are all anchored for the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment