At 8am on Monday morning our minibus arrived to transfer us to the city of Ha Long. It stopped halfway at an enormous building full of sections of goods for sale, lacquerware, embroidery, silk clothing, wood carvings, etc and surrounding the building were hundreds of stone carvings; some only small but most were enormous. Most of the products sold there are made by handicapped people and it provides them with a properly paid job and some amazingly artistic skills. In some areas you can watch them creating the lacquerware or doing the intricate embroidery. We did buy a lovely plate and, for once, didn’t feel the need to barter the price down. Further on, nearer to Ha Long, we passed a row of concrete, partially built, housing. Next to it was a large billboard showing an artist’s impression complete with a big shiny and very busy road right in front of it. In reality the road we were on was definitely not big and shiny, but it definitely was busy. I really had to chuckle to myself as a busy road in front of your home would be a turn off in most countries, but in Vietnam it seems they like to be on a main road with all the fumes and beeping horns….!.
Four hours after leaving Hanoi, we finally arrived in Ha Long City along with a large number of other minibuses and coaches. Everyone was herded in to various lounges according to which boat you had booked. The English couple that we had chatted to on our bus were sent to a different area…..…they must have paid for the deluxe boat…?!!! We sat with a young Norwegian couple, Kine and Kjittel and when we boarded a launch to take us out to the Dragon Pearl One, it turned out there would be fifteen of us on the cruise. On board, we were greeted by the crew and given a refreshing fruit juice followed by a very impressive six-course lunch up on deck. We sat at a table for four and chatted to our new-found Norwegian lawyer friends. After lunch, we were taken down to our bedrooms. Ours was lovely with a huge window framing the stunning scenery outside. We unpacked a little and then went up to the top deck to relax on the sun-beds and enjoy more of the amazing views.
At 4pm a ‘bunch’ of kayaks were towed over from a beach nearby and we all clambered in. Our guide, Tom, led the way around the limestone islands and karsts and I think we covered a fair distance in the two hours that we were out there. It was my first time back in a kayak since February and although it is always feels weird being in a double with Rodney wobbling in the back, it was good to be out there paddling again. Even my ‘falling-off-the-bed-injured-shoulder’ held out fairly well and was only a little bit sore the next day.
At dinnertime we sat with Steve from New York and thoroughly enjoyed a two-hour, eight-course meal while discussing travel stories and prime mortgages…. Feeling really tired (it must be all the talking), we watched some of our fellow passengers try their hands at squid fishing; shining lights out on the water to attract them to the line. I wouldn’t know what to do with a squid if I landed one! So we both opted for an early night and the lovely white cotton sheets, huge bed and the very gentle rocking of the boat certainly gave us a good night’s sleep.
On Tuesday morning we pulled apart the shiny gold curtains to see that we really were surrounded by the amazing rock formations of Bai Tu Long Bay in Ha Long Bay; the boat swung around on its anchor giving us a brilliant 360° view right outside our window. Apparently, there are 1,969 islands, mainly limestone and karst formations in the area, most of them pushing straight up out of the water and creating fabulous shapes. It’s a geological work of art.
After breakfast we boarded small boats and were rowed by local women, around the corner to their fishing village. The village of Cong Dam was comprised of wooden huts built on platforms which were floating on blue plastic drums. There are fish tanks attached to the platforms and they keep the fish they catch in the pens; only taking them to market twice a year. About 260 people live in the village and have done since 1995 when they were moved out of nearby caves, in which they had always lived, by the government. There is a school, but only about 15 children attend and they currently have no teacher; it is hard to keep an outsider living there in the middle of nowhere, three hours by boat to the nearest market. Apparently they’re expecting a teacher to start in two months’ time.
Back on board we sat on deck discussing American politics and how to solve the problems of poverty with Alan and Doris from San Francisco, before indulging in another tasty eight-course meal. We spent quite a chunk of the afternoon sitting on sun-beds at the back of the boat watching ten sea eagles circling overhead. Occasionally one would dip down to the water, but unfortunately we never saw one actually catch a fish. We were told that the fishermen like the eagles; they see them as a symbol of good luck, because if the eagles are there then there must be fish in the area.
We also watched fishing boats glide past us with their nets spread out to one side of the boat. A man would stand on the other side of the boat beating the water with a long bamboo pole, the theory being that it scares the fish in to the net; it looked like rather noisy hard work to me.
At 3:30pm only eight of us, plus Tom, opted to paddle the kayaks for about an hour around the islands to a pale sandy beach. Rodney and I still couldn’t keep our heavy double kayak in a straight line (I will blame the man at the back), so we took the longest route, constantly meandering to left and to right. But then we probably saw more than the others…! When we finally got to the beach the other seven non-kayaking passengers, plus a few of the crew were already on the beach and the Dragon Pearl One was anchored close by. Two of the younger passengers joined the crew in a game of beach soccer. The goalposts were created by two paddles shoved upright in the sand, which fell over with unsurprising regularity. The rest of us sat and watch the peach coloured sun appear from under the clouds, momentarily hover above a v shape on the islands in front of us, and then drop dramatically behind them. It was magical.
The tender then took us back to the Dragon Pearl to shower and change for dinner; a very special dinner. At 7pm the tender took us all back over to the beach and lights had been lit all the way along a path and the stone steps to the entrance of a cave. We picked our way down more steps inside, then through a narrow gap in the rock and there before us was an enormous cavern. Tea lights had been placed on every step leading down to a long table set with white tablecloths, red candles and scattered with red rose petals. At the far end was a large round table with rose petals laid out to form a large heart shape in front of more red candles. It was a stunning setting and even with fifteen diners it felt romantic and ethereal.
Pumpkin soup was the first course and then Tom announced a ‘special presentation from chef’. Two of the staff carried in a platter on which there was an amazing sculpture of an eagle. More amazing was the fact that the chef had carved it from a pumpkin! The fine detail was incredible. After the next course of lotus root salad there was another ‘special presentation’, this time a little white elephant carved from taro and pulling a little wooden log. And so it continued……. After the barbecued prawns, an enormous, most ornately carved dragon arrived on a platter. Each ‘special presentation’ was placed inside the red petal heart on the round table.
I can’t remember what the next course was, but the platter that followed held a copy of the Dragon Pearl One, again carved from a pumpkin with wafer thin slices of carrot forming the sails and a tea light illuminating it from inside. More courses of food arrived; fish kebabs, chicken wings, sweet and sour fish, fried rice, pork belly in a barbecue sauce. We wanted more carvings, but unfortunately the boat was the last one and we were told that it took the chef four hours to make the carvings that afternoon. I think it would have taken us four days at least, just to have a go at making one! And he had also cooked up the banquet after lunch…..!!!
We sat opposite Ali and Andy, a couple from Canada and New Zealand and chatted throughout the meal, but I also had to keep gazing at the carvings which were right next to Rodney & me. Going to the toilet was an interesting experience. You walked to the far end of the cavern, through a small opening out to where the chef and staff were all gathered and the barbecue coals were cooling down. Beside them, was another steep staircase cut in to the rock which led up to a small wooden hut / dunny. Inside was one western style toilet, flowery tiled floor, walls coated with flowery stick-backed plastic and a nice soft toilet roll completed the ensemble. Delightful !
With tea lights starting to burn out, last photos were taken and appreciation passed all round to the chef and the staff and we were then floated back over to the Dragon Pearl for another deep sleep.
The next morning, after some time spent in bed staring at the wonderful scenery outside the window and reminiscing about last night’s experience, we finally breakfasted at 8am. This was followed a little too swiftly by packing up, paperwork, and lunch served at 10:45am. I was still digesting my breakfast! At 11:30am we all quietly boarded the tender for the last time and were deposited at the Ha Long Bay terminal. And then, at 12:12pm on the 12th of the 12th month in the year 2012, we all said our farewells as Tom directed each of us to the correct transfer bus. Eight of us from the Dragon Pearl ended up on the same bus, but as I wrote up my notes, everyone else sat quietly dozing, or seemed to be reflecting on our wonderful last three days. It had been a lovely mix of people, from all over the world, of all different ages, on a gorgeous boat, amongst some of the most magical scenery I have ever seen.
