The third day of my Vietnam trip is an excursion to Bai Tu Long Bay and following that, to the UNESCO World Heritage Halong Bay. Bai Tu Long Bay, Halong Bay and Bach Long Vi Island together created the praying dragon, the descending white mother dragon’s body and the white dragon’s tail according to the local legend. More of the legend will be told as I write up on Halong Bay in the next post, so stay tuned!
Our 2 days 1 night stay with Imperial Cruise Halong proved to be excellent. They provided hotel pick up from Hanoi to the Halong Bay pier. The 3-ish hours of bus journey was easily filled with the tour guide’s entertaining tells on the country’s history. The ones I remember most were his insistence on that Vietnam is indeed a rich country. Vietnam still being considered poor is sheerly due to comparison when you compare the annual profits of iPhone to rice or coffee exports. Vietnam, indeed, dominates the world’s exportation of rice, coffee and vegetable.
It is also surprising to know that 90% of the population in this ex-colony of America, France and China speaks only Vietnamese. The tour guide then proudly suggested the reason – Vietnamese gained freedom from colonial invasion. Ironically enough, part of the Vietnamese’s language is influenced by French, English and Chinese. For instance, the pronunciation of the word cake (gâteau in French) and coffee (café in French) are actually the same whilst the name of places like Halong Bay resembles the pronunciation of Chinese with “ha” meaning descending in Chinese and “long” meaning dragon. Aside from the language, it is also obvious in their cuisine that there is a mix of French and Chinese cooking style and ingredients.
During our ride to the pier, we passed by the longest river in Vietnam, the Red River. The Red River Delta covers around 15 square km in Vietnam, crossing eight provinces and connecting to China. The river is a cradle for the Vietnamese’s rice planting industry as well as the origin of water puppetry.
Midway to the pier, we stopped by a souvenir shop for a short break. Walking inside the shop, you see tens of ladies sewing embroidery. They’re absolutely fascinating!
Upon arrival at the pier, we were transferred to our cruise. After checking into our cabin, we had our first meal on the cruise and to be frank, it was a feast! The menu of every single meal consists of 10 dishes and this lunch is no exception! As we lunch, the cruise sail around Bai Tu Long Bay and it was beautiful.
An hour flew by simply by gazing out at this heavenly scene. We then can choose between kayaking or visiting the pearl farm as organised by the cruise. Since I am less of a sporty person, I opted for the pearl farm visit. The pearl farm is located in one of the floating villages in Bai Tu Long Bay and the owner inherited his pearl breeding technique from the Japanese more than five decades ago.
In the pearl farm, the owner showed us how to make a pearl. After carefully opened the oyster, a tiny piece of mantle tissue from a donor shell and a spherical bead is put at the same position. They oysters are then put back into the farm for 18 months before a pearl is nurtured. Pearls of different colours are generated with different oysters.
As we were transferred back to our cruise, we sailed from Bai Tu Long Bay to Halong Bay. It was already evening when we arrived. Halong Bay’s sunset was just amazing. I’m starting to fall in love with Halong Bay.
Having our welcome party on the top deck of our boats, we occasionally see locals rowing on small boats with food and goods singing and shouting “Sir/ Madam, do you want something?”. Our tour guide warned us from these “sea hawkers” for some of them might climb into the cabins through the windows and steal.
The rest of the night was spent on more partying, karaoke night and fishing. More on Halong Bay will be in the next post. Stay posted! 🙂
Kelly's Travel Blog 