Day 24: Farewell to our guide Way and hello Hue

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Geo: 16.4635, 107.585

Last morning on "Violet" was a busy one. Again, I was the only one on the sun deck (funny, another Vietnamese misnomer!) supervising the crew with the setup of the deck and the unfurling of the sails. Every railing and piece of furniture is carefully cleaned and polished to start the day and all this happens while most people are catching their last few zzzzs. And again, absolutely no takers for tai chi. (Correction: have been informed by the slander police that tai chi was at 7 am and he was there.....both mornings. Have to say he is no more relaxed for having done two lesson.)

The pre breakfast excursion was a trip to the beach and the lookout. The boys took advantage of the walk up the stairs to the lookout at the top of the 105 stairs for sweeping views of the bay and then took a plunge in Halong Bay. Although billed as a "beach" it was really a thirty metre stretch of imported sand and a thin ribbon of shallow water cordoned off with a net and buoys. (According to Richard, I relate well to the hyperbole of the Vietnamese tourism literature....he accuses me of defamation and slander every day and has threatened to send the blog posts to his lawyers.)

Loraine got out the sketch book and made a start on a drawing of the boat anchored off shore but was soon distracted by the call of the warm sand and the cool water and took a stroll along the "beach" and side stepped the ever present volleyball court.

It was the usual beach scene - young men raced along the sand to dive headfirst into the bay, children swatted badminton racquets and kicked soccer balls, young women covered themselves in sunscreen and stretched out on towels and umbrellas and lazy boys dotted the shore. The only thing missing were the bright rays of the sun. The occasional glimpse of blue sky was a reward for an early start.

It was just a quick visit (an hour in fact, timed to the minute) and after a towel count by Sam, that was decidedly more intense and committed than the head count, it was back on the tender to join "Violet" for a quick shower followed by brunch and the "feedback form."

As for the juvenile behaviour of "our boys" it started at brunch with a fly. Thought we had solved the "he's got my legroom" argument by sitting them side by side - but this merely opened proximity options! There was a single fly buzzing around the table looking for a ripe spot to land. Ever on the alert for the opportunity to engage in a brutal assault, Richard took the cover of the fly to deliver Mac a few whacks in the arm as a pretence for swatting the fly. Needless to say the fly escaped unharmed, but the hapless victim, who has been dosing up on the occasional xaralto, was bruised black and blue. As Loraine keeps saying, "You can't take him anywhere!"

Sam had the departure routine covered and there was no settling the bill until the form had been completed. We had a few little negatives to list - including Sam's ever presence and repeated instructions - and these were itemised "politely" on the form. What we hadn't factored in was that these forms were CHECKED on the spot by Sam and he "corrected" you and the forms right there in front of you. Oops. Awkward! But, he didn't throw us into the bay and our luggage was delivered intact.

Of course, waiting at the top of the ramp on the pier was good old Way, Jumping from foot to foot, waving enthusiastically and welcoming us back like long lost friends. He grabbed Mac in a gigantic bear hug and tapped his folder which displayed our name and repeated "Way and Wayne; Way and Wayne." We were back with our little joker.

Now had the five hour haul back to Hanoi to get to our connecting flight.

True to his promise, Way took us to a Pearl Factory in search of the elusive piece. But again "no bananas." The golden tear drop pearl that I have my heart set on was there, but it was set in a piece with an even larger white pearl. And the same problem, the bigger pearl on the necklace thumped around when you moved and it was set in white gold instead of yellow. We did ask if we could have the golden pearl reset - but were informed this would ruin their piece because they had matched the two imperfect pearls perfectly for shape and contrasting colour. I did get a tongue lashing from the sales person who informed me that I was "very fussy" and the tear dropped pearl was very rare. I needed to open my mind and take what was on offer, unless of course I didn't have enough dollars to buy it! That little "tante" ended the shopping excursion - I'm holding out for the yellow imperfect tear drop, set in yellow gold!

Of course "the big red blazing penis" was still on Richard's mind and we spent about 20 minutes of the next leg of the journey laughing with Way about the big surprise of the Surprise Cave. We didn't get much of an explanation from Way, just gales of laughter as he taught us some new words for our Vietnamese vocabulary - not sure what situation will present it on our trip where we get to use "hello, penis, noodles and thank you" but you never know.

Our car ride today again took us through the smog filled areas that were home to steel factories, cement plant and the added dirt and grime of the coal mining area of Uong Bi where instead of the silver film of limestone, every surface and the air was tinged with black.

Made a toilet stop at the ceramics factory and took a tour of the factory and even tried our hand at painting. Yep, as expected, Loraine was definitely the queen of this activity and her Halong Bay silhouette, junks and trees were recognisable. I ended up with grey, green and red splodges on a tile. Did love the shop here but would need to throw out Mac's hiking shoes from the luggage to make room for the ceramics I wanted to buy. Had to settle for a teeny, tiny teapot and a couple of rice wine shot glasses.

Next stop was the embroidery workshop and lunch. Think I would have been better at this! Didn't get a chance though but did watch some incredible artisans at work as they worked in teams with strands of silk to create the final product. The black and white pieces were striking works of art and we could have snaffled one for 68 million dong. The eyelashes were actually embroidered with human hair.

Lunch finished, it was time to have a scout around the shop. And just as well we did delay, because Mac had left his iPad on the lunch table. One of the restaurant staff hunted us down amongst the silk and jade and returned it to a very relieved and grateful Mac. Imagine the rest of the trip without "Civilisations."

Arrived at the airport with the necessary two hour lead time and were escorted every step of the way by Way (and now that we have finalise the feedback form, which was a glowing report on our support from Way and handed to him in a sealed envelope, we have discovered that his name is actually "Khue."😉 Thank goodness Khu was with us as Richard's bag failed the security screening test. His was asked to "go out back" with the airport security team because he had BULLETS in his bag.

The strange part of this story was that we were standing around perplexed, talking about the increased weight of our luggage. We know we have all put on weight because of over eating, but somehow our bags have weighed between 4 and 6 kgs extra on this flight. We had dodged the sex slave in northern Vietnam and for about 5 minutes we thought we were bullet mules! But after flipping the luggage over and rescanning it, the security guards decided they weren't bullets. Wonder what bullet shaped objects LO_RI are carting from province to province in Vietnam. Thinking that "hello, penis, noodles and thank you" are looking increasingly promising as conversation starters.

Exchanged big hugs and waved our last goodbyes, with Khue calling to us "Don't you forget me," we headed for the luxury of the Lotus Lounge that is one of the appreciated benefits of business class. And this was full on. Every sort of seating arrangement you could imagine including massage chairs accompanied by an impressive smorgasbord, cold drinks and coffee that was more-ish. We settled in for the 90 minutes and were not expecting "another big surprise" because we weren't even in a cave. But surprised we were as a big RAT scurried across the lounge floor from the bookshelf to a nearby table. Yes, a live, furry, scurrying, rodent. It actually took a few seconds to process what it was it was so out of context. Once the coast was clear, Richard reported it to the receptionist who informed him that "they come for the food." Right. THEY. And I'm guessing the food we had also come for!

Funny, we packed up and headed for the gate - after carefully checking our hand luggage to ensure THEY were not joining us.

Only a short one hour flight this time and we do love Business Class. Although Loraine was in the hot seat and requested a move. The seat was literally boiling hot. Loraine thought she could bear it, but had to relocate. The hostie said that the seat had been replaced and that was why it was hot. Makes as much sense as the rat and smorgasbord!

As Business Class passengers we got our own bus to ferry us to the terminal of Phu Bai Airport and our luggage was "of course" first out on the carousel and as we walked outside into the heat of Hue, there was our new guide Huan waiting for us with the Mercedes bus to deliver the group to La Residence.

Hue was beautiful by night and it was love at first sight for the group. With only 400 000 residents, wide streets, green gardens and festival lights everywhere festooning the ride parallel to the river, the beep beep of the scooters was almost a muted background noise to our introduction to Hue. And of course, as we pulled into the fountain lit driveway of the hotel and entered the lobby to be greeted by the art work, the wood paneling and the colours of the hotel, we were very happy at the prospect of two days in Hue.

The night markets were open and the town was still bustling at 10 pm. On advice from Huan, we opted to eat in and leave the exploration until tomorrow night. Apparently, the witching hours begin at 11 pm as the markets close and the "bad men" come out to snatch bags and phones from "tourists."

Little did Huan know that in this single day, we had scaled mountains, escaped the tentacles of the jellyfish, survived Sam's scrutiny at disembarkation, dodged the bullet accusations of security at airport check-in, fought off the rats in the Lotus Lounge and survived the burning seat of Business Class! Don't call us "tourists" we're the Vietnam Venturers and we truly have super powers.

Steps: 8 738
Temperature: 24 Halong and 35 Hue

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Comments

[Lena]

Awesome write up Jan. Laughing out loud right now!!!

[Aunty Gail]

I have to say at this point, reading your blog every day is a highlight I so look forward to. And you never disappoint Jan!! What an amazing day we have shared with you. Can't possibly imagine what tomorrow has in store for us all.....
xxxxx