Day 87: Hạ Long Bay, Vietnam

Monday, 3 April 2017
At Sea — South China Sea

Forgot to Collect Stats from the Nav Channel

We may run, walk, stumble. drive, or fly, but let us never lose sight of the
reason for the journey, or miss a chance to see a rainbow.
~ Gloria Gaither ~

Our day in Hạ Long Bay (HLB) once again dawned overcast and hazy — even more so than yesterday morning.  Breakfast was scheduled at 7:15a … our preferences recorded by Chi last night after dinner.  We had a choice of Phở gà Việt Nam [Vietnamese style chicken and noodle soup] or eggs prepared in one of four ways.  I would like to have tried the phở, but I was afraid the chicken would be in chunks with bone and marrow and skin and whatnot — the way I’ve seen it in restaurants in Virginia — so I took the easy way out and ordered eggs.  Turns out the chicken was shredded white meat, so I could have eaten it.  Next time!

As we ate our meal, Captain Thao moved the boat from our anchorage to a pearl farm.  Here, we tendered to a floating platform.  But instead of visiting the farm, we went on a cruise to see the floating fishing village of Vong Vieng.  Our mode of transport was a bamboo rowboat.  If I understood Bach correctly, the village is now maintained strictly for tourism purposes … the fishermen long since having been forced to move to the mainland by the government.

Again, there were lots of other junks tendering their passengers, but the rowboats were well-spaced and we enjoyed seeing HLB from a closer-to-the-water perspective … the karst formations towering all around us to form a spectacular landscape that was all the more impressive.  Local junks, home to many-a Vietnamese family, put-putted as they passed us … laundry hanging from lines at the back of the boats …. food cooking on small stoves topped with steaming pots … young and old alike smiling and waving at us.

Our boat eventually returned us to the pearl farm.  Here, a young woman — though she could have been as old as me … it’s hard to tell with these people — showed us the three different types of oysters farmed here: Akoya, Tahiti, and South Sea … the first one being the smallest and the last one being the largest … all producing pearls sized accordingly.  The next station we visited at the farm demonstrated the seeding of oysters to produce pearls — using the meat and skin of a spent-oyster to get the process going.  Finally, we were taken to a table where I picked an oyster from a tank.  Our guide shucked it expertly to see if there was a pearl inside — there was, and though it had quite a few imperfections, I was not the recipient of it ;-(  The tour of the farm ended in the shop — of course.

Upon returning to the junk, we packed our bags and vacated the cabins so that Hai — chief engineer-cum-cabin steward — could prepare them for the guests that would be boarding when we returned to shore.  Despite hoping that the skies would clear as they had yesterday afternoon, the morning remained overcast.  In fact, a light drizzly rain had us crowding around the table to stay out of the spray.  We could have gone indoors, but we didn’t want to miss a moment of the scenery — veiled by haze or not.  In fact, despite the spray, we opted to have what was described as brunch outside on the top deck.

Chi had taken our order last night after dinner.  I knew I wouldn’t be hungry after having eggs for breakfast, so I abstained … although Chi insisted that the chef at least make me some sweet potato cakes.  Mui and the Zs ordered the chicken stir fry — with turmeric — so that Chef Tuyen didn’t have to make two separate dishes.  The chicken was served with steamed rice.  I had a few bites of Mui’s chicken, and it was quite good.

By 11:30a we were back in Hong Gai Harbor.  The sky was finally clearing … too late for us, however.  After bidding the crew farewell, we were transferred ashore and then took the golf-cart-on-steroids back to the Indochina Office where we waited about 15 minutes for our bus transfer back to the Bai Chay tender pier.

The driver dropped us off in front of the Wyndham.  Perfect — as I wanted to see if we could get wi-fi here in return for some beverages.  We bid the Zs farewell and went inside to see the desk clerk.  He graciously punched in the password for the wi-fi.  We probably could have used the internet without ordering anything, but that would have been rude.  I had a cold beverage and Mui ordered Vietnamese iced coffee, which we later learned is made with condensed milk.  He said it was excellent.  We’ve heard that Vietnam has the second best coffee in the world, and that just might be true.  In any event, I managed to get all my apps updated — the process had been interrupted at the Indochina offices, thus rendering my phone useless for most of the apps.  And we called family, shared photos on What’sApp and FB, and generally enjoyed having high-speed internet for a while.

A quiet afternoon on board Insignia once we returned to the ship, and we wrapped up our day with dinner in the dining room with Diego, the Concierge, and his wife, Albina.  She joined us a few days ago to keep Diego company until his contract ends in Bangkok in a few days.  It was a pleasure to dine with such a lovely couple.

All in all, I would say that we had a great time during our port of call in northern Vietnam.  Though cabbies and scooter drivers stopped to ask us at every turn if we wanted a ride or a tour, they took “no” literally and did not pester us.  Despite the history between the two countries, the people were friendly and welcoming, and we enjoyed interacting with them.

Now for two days at sea before our next port of call in Vietnam — this one in the south of the country.

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