Back in Hanoi tonight after a great morning at the coast.
We were up bright and early to catch the 7:20 tender that would take us to a local fishing village. From there we hopped into the basket boats that are used by the locals and a fisherman paddled us around their beautiful “yard” for about an hour. The man (or woman) with the oars stand for the entire time and they paddle backwards to my way to thinking. When we’re rowing we pull the oars toward us but this style pushes the oars away using their whole body as leverage. It was really interesting to experience. Another interesting aspect was that it was raining...and I don’t mean just a light mist....I mean real rain! It wasn’t monsoon like but it was sure enough to get us plenty wet. I had an umbrella and the rest of the group had rain slickers so we were protected enough but even so when we got back to the big boat we all had to change into some drier clothes. It was actually a treat to be able to see this little area of Bai Tu Long Bay in the rain...it looks quite different than it does under sunny skies and it really gave us a taste of what it might feel like to be one of the locals living on the water - even if just for an hour.
At one point our little boat took us under a rock “bridge”. We sat under there alongside a local fisherman who was also seeking shelter from the rain for a few minutes. It was amazing to be able to look up and see formations hanging down from under the “bridge” and to just sit there in the silence of this beautiful place long enough to be able to breathe it all in. I think silence is a really good word to describe where we were this morning. Other than a couple of dogs barking when we passed by their floating home there was no sound other than our boat cutting through the water.
The people who live in this floating village are born here....live here their whole lives.....and die here. They don’t even consider anything other than that. It is hard for us to fathom but for them it is their norm and according to our guide....they are happy in their lives. They live simply, want for little, and work at a pace that fits with their surroundings. Their homes are tiny wooden buildings. Some of them have solar panels on the roof. Each of them is set in the middle of a raft like bunch of logs and all of the “rafts” are linked beside one another. Some of the homes have a dog. Many of the homes have some laundry hanging outside under a lean to type roof. Often there is a table and chair(s) sitting out in front of the home as well. Most of the homes were empty of people as we were there during their work day.
At the end of our time in the basket boats our rower took us right through the middle of an oyster farm. Lines and baskets hang down under large round buoys and in those baskets there are one of three different type of oysters. The oysters here are harvested for their pearls, their meat and their shell. If I remember the stats correctly.....Only about 10% of oysters have a pearl that is of a high enough quality to be used for jewellery. In fact only 50% of oysters are able to even make a pearl! As well, 20% of them die and the other 20% make pearls that are of substandard quality. All in all...this morning was both educational and an opportunity to gain some cultural awareness of the people who call this region home. The additional bonus we enjoyed was that we got to float around a magnificent part of the Pacific Ocean where limestone pillars thrust themselves toward the heavens with random abandon and where the water is a colour somewhere between green and blue.
Back at the big boat we had another amazing brunch and once again....we left our table full full full! The food on this floating hotel has been delicious and plentiful. We’d already checked out of our staterooms so all that was left to do was settle up our bar bill (oops!) and say thank you to the crew for a wonderful 3 days. By the time all of this was done we’d made our way back into Halong Bay and for one last time we donned our life jackets so the tender could take us the short hop over to land where we climbed aboard the bus that was waiting for us. That bus brought us the 4 hour journey back to Hanoi where we checked back into the Paradise Boutique Hotel. They’d kept our bags here for us during our time away in Halong Bay so the bellman had our bags up to our rooms within minutes of our arrival. As much as we will miss the boat...it felt kind of like we’d come home as we were greeted at the front counter by one of the reception staff, Linda.
After getting settled back in we were off as Gail was hungry AGAIN! She’d agreed to go for Pho tonight and so we asked Linda for a recommendation that was not too far away. Linda told us that there was a little place just around the corner that serves really great Pho and so we were off. However....perhaps Gail wasn’t as hungry as she’d led us to believe because as soon as she saw the place she wrinkled her nose and said, “no way!” And that was that! We talked her into continuing down that little lane which took us deeper into a land that left her feeling more and more uncomfortable. There were raw chickens with the heads still attached (including the comb and wattle) laying on tables along the lane and of course a few flies which didn’t help with her comfort level! A little further along and around another corner we popped back out onto a busy street and there we located a cute little restaurant where every single patron was not a local! Definitely not the pho we were looking for but the service from three young men was something to remember for sure. Initially our only server was Jack and I’m pretty sure he didn’t know what to think! We’d arrived at Happy Hour and so we simply ordered a double round. I can’t believe he’’’s never had that happen before but honestly...he was so thrown by it that perhaps it was his first time. LOL. In the end we had some dinner too and so all was good in Gail’s world once again.
Back at the hotel tonight there is time to blog and maybe even catch a movie.
Until next time,
Darlorlyngai
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