Day 23: No sunshine on the bay


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Asia » Vietnam
April 14th 2017
Published: June 25th 2017
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Geo: 20.9063, 107.082

Halong Bay was hidden this morning by the dark "mist" of industrial Vietnam. The morning greeted us with a water surface that was completely still but without a single ray of sunshine. Although I was on the top deck of "Violet", enjoying the unfurling of the giant junk sails, it was impossible to get even a hint of where the sun was rising. Hope the Captain is not navigating by celestial queues because none were visible.

I was the only passenger on deck this morning for the 5.30 unfurling of the sails (surprise, surprise.) All the boats have the brown "junk" sails which are hoisted each morning "just for show." Was able to team this up with a chat with Anh, one of the dining room  staff, who shared his story of leaving the land and spending 7 years gaining an education so that he could work on this 5 star boat.
Ahn  has been the first Vietnamese person who has spoken about the smoke and the smog that is blanketing his country. He has been working on the islands in the south of Vietnam and said we will see the return of the sun and views of blue sky as we get closer to Hue and Hoi An.

The cruise is all cleverly organised. Guests are on board for either a one night or two night stay and to facilitate the constant to and fro back to the pier the day time activities are organised via a "sister boat" called "Sunset." You have access to early morning tai chi and wake up coffee on "Violet" and then the "Sunset"picks you up for the day and ferries you to the activities and serves breakfast and lunch. (Sam issued a stern warning in the briefing. If you are not on time, the tender boat leaves without you!)

I was seriously on an eating strike today. I couldn't find the enthusiasm - I have enough fat to go into hibernation for the winter! Mac and Richard had their usual breakfast gusto but the girls picked around the edge of both breakfast and lunch and we were sliding our serves - including oysters - sideways!

A good thing too because our first stop was the Surprise Cave and there were what felt like 1 000 steps of varying heights and widths to navigate.

It was an amazing cave. It consisted of three caverns, each one more amazing than the last. We looked for dragons and monkeys, turtle, shrimp and jelly fish, saw the Buddha, the baby and the lovers and Tom, our guide, had a story for them all. But when it came to the "big red blazing penis" he had nothing. When Richard asked him why that formation was featured with its very own spotlight, Tom had no answer. When Richard asked him what it was, Tom had no answer. Mac commented that he was surprised that Richard even recognised what it was. It couldn't be from personal experience! (A little side note here: Loraine loves him and claims he's just perfect for her!)

The boys posed and pointed, giggled and guffawed and joined in with the ribald jokes of the other Aussies on the trip. Much to the disappointment of Richard, the mystery surrounding this little upstanding corner of the Surprise Cave continued unanswered. I bet if Way had been there we would have had the perfect answer and he would have been proud to pose and have his picture taken. And just saying, Richard was STILL talking about the "big red blazing penis" at 10 pm. Not sure if it were an inspirational or aspirational moment in the cave for him. Let it go Richard, literally!

We headed to the next islet for the sampan ride through the "underwater cave." A couple of misnomers here and a definite case of misinformation Vietnamese tourism style. There were speed boats doing impressions of the rapid rides in New Zealand zipping around with screaming riders. And there were large wooden boats that were propelled by rowers and there were kayaks. And the underwater cave was an archway that gave access to a "lake" that was formed by a ring of interlocking islets. 

 There were hundreds of people lined up on the jetty but we skipped the queue and headed straight for our wooden boat and made out way through the archway. The main attraction here is a colony of monkeys that inhabits one of the small rocky outcrops. The boats pulled in and tourists hurled food at them. The monkeys were ducking and weaving the barrage of fruit that came their way and then scampered to pick up their favourites from this man made smorgasbord. It was interesting to see the monkeys, but I did feel a bit sorry for them. Need to comment on how clever the monkeys were - they were able to stealthily unwrap the lollies that were thrown their way - discarding the paper with one hand and popping the lolly into their mouth with e other.

And have to say this supposedly tranquil excursion was anything but tranquil. The Chinese groups are very noisy wherever we go and this was no exception. They were having a rollicking good time and sounded like a bunch of drunken sailors as they chorused songs to evoke the echo of the "cave" and then screamed with delight at the antics of the monkeys.

And speaking of "monkeys" Mac and Richard have had one of those days. Pushed, prodded and elbowed from first meeting this morning. Fought over the leg room under the table (a daily ritual now), accused one another of breathing each other's fresh air, were in a constant round of one up manship with jokes (actually they are very funny) and did their best to snap the worst pics of each other. But it came to a head when Richard silently, stealthily and skilfully (Richard loves my use of alliteration) tied Mac into the life jacket with the whistle string on one of the tender boat crossings. When we stood up to leave, Mac couldn't get out of the life jacket and Richard sauntered by with a just a hint of a grin chirping "That must have got tangled." Richard was slowed down a little in the rescue situation of unravelling this knotty problem by his own laughing!

Think he was the winner for the day! Actually, he was on a roll today using his microwave joke wherever he could and took great delight in his person "behind the scenes" commentary alternate for Tom.

Rejoined "Violet" at 3 pm and it was a scurry to the cabins. A sleep was on the agenda or at least just some down time away from FOOD. There was a nice little bottle of Chardonnay waiting for us and we teamed it up with some salty leftovers from the train and it made a nice accompaniment for the sunset. Unfortunately this evening, not one shred of sunlight was visible on the horizon. We had to settle for watching the antics on the neighbouring boats as their lights twinkled in the sunset. In speaking with Ahn, there has only been one say of sunshine in the last 7 days. Maybe tomorrow.

Followed lunch with a visit to the Oyster Farm and Pearl factory and I got "this close" to buying a piece. It was a golden oval shaped pearl set in yellow gold with a cubic zirconia. And it was beautiful. But when I put it in, the pearl was so big that when I walked, it clunked on my chest so hard I thought I was getting CPR. Then began the scurry to find something a bit more reasonable in size and of course this was difficult because the pear shape (which is considered an imperfection) was difficult to find. Unwillingly, left if for another day. Will have to rock the $15 fakeys again tonight. Loraine was a much better shopper and picked up two very stylish pairs of mother of pearl earrings!

We skipped the cooking demonstration this evening in favour of another glass of wine on the balcony. (Have to admit that LO_RI had more stamina and fronted up. Good old Sam even marked the roll and knew we were missing!) But were not late to dinner. Oysters, tiger prawns, bass and calamari graced our menu for,our farewell dinner on "Violet." Popped open the long awaited bottle of champers and enjoyed the sizzling bass prepared at the table, slurped on the TomYum and literally licked the inside of the oyster shell.

Snuggled down into the four poster at 10 pm and watched the lights from the other boats as they reflected in the clam waters of the bay - what party animals we are.

Steps: 4 845
Temperature: 22 degrees
Calaories: don't even want to think about it.

PS Getting very excited. We have jettisoned some stuff from the luggage. Finished a bottle of hand gel, a roll on deodorant, a cake of soap, a lipstick, a bottle of healthy joints and a six pack of tissues. Got SOOOOOOOmuch room for shopping now.


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18th April 2017

Dare I ask????? Who took the photo of you both in the jacuzzi????? I think you will be a bit sad to leave this floating paradise.....it sure has everything - especially the food!!!!! And the adventures just keep coming.....what's next?....
xxxxx

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