Hanoi - Sapa - Lao Cai - Halong Bay - Hue - Hoi An - Da Nang
河内 - 沙坝 / 萨帕 - 老街 - 下龙湾 - 顺化 - 会安 - 岘港
19 October 2012 (Day Six - Halong Bay and fly to Hue)
Rising to the lapping waters of the bay and with the spectacular sunset scene still fresh in our heads, we tried our luck for a sunrise view. We went up the sundeck and found our junk surrounded by all kinds of small and large ships, cruises and boats, which like ours, stopped sailing and anchored here overnight. A sudden downpour destroyed our sunrise view, forcing us back to our cabin. We could still enjoy the surrounding view through the cabin window. At 6.30am, we decided to check out the sundeck whether there's a Taichi teaching class as written in the cruise itinerary. The "Taichi Master" was nowhere to be seen, so we had to assumed it was cancelled due to the rain.
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| The young chef and his assistant |
Breakfast was light: coffee, tea and bread, followed by handicrafts sales from local village folks brought onboard in small boats. We bought a hand-stitched picture with Halong Bay view for VND420,000 or USD20 and two pairs of pearl earrings for USD15. The pearls were of course harvested from pearl farms nearby. After the shopping, we welcomed the chef to conduct a spring-roll cooking class. We didn't do anything much other than wrapping and "rolling" together all the ingredients prepared by the chef. But, it tasted differently and more delicious than those we ate for the past few days!
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| Floating fishing village |
The scheduled visit to the fishing village at Bai Tu Long Bay was delayed by 30 minutes. There was actually another option, which we didn't opt for, to cruise around the bay to find more secluded areas to either swim or kayak in. After a quick rest, we boarded a smaller boat to reach the fishing village. According to our guide, there are about 70 families still living on floating houses/platforms. The government had plans to move them to the mainland to provide better living conditions, and at the same time to protect the surrounding Halong Bay environment. They objected the relocation as for them, fishing is their way of living and they had been dwelling the place for generations. Besides sending daily fresh water to the villages, the government had also built floating school and clinic. During our boat ride, we also saw the "Stone of Tourism" as printed on a VND200,000 banknote and a "dog-shaped" stone.
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| Fishing in a traditional raft |
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| The same view at the back of a VND200,000 banknote |
The visit took us one hour. We took showers before having a heavy brunch. At midday, after check-out, we headed back to the main harbour in a small boat before transferring to our awaiting vehicle for again, a 3-hour journey back to Hanoi. Upon our arrival at the Tuan Chau International Marine Station, Hyng was already there waiting for us. We stopped by the same arts and craft centre (Da Viet) on our way back to Hanoi. En route, we passed by the largest Samsung factory and many sticky rice farms, producing glutinous rice for their popular dish: steamed chicken glutinous rice.
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| Tuan Chau International Marine Station (tourist wharf) |
We arrived at Hanoi airport at around 4.30pm. We rested for a while and had our dinner at airport's Lucky-I Restaurant. Luckily we checked-in early because we had to go through very strict security checks. We still managed to grab ourselves a pack of local snack (Poka Potato Chips for VND9,000) from a convenience store before boarding our Vietnam Airlines flight to Hue.
The domestic flight from Hanoi to Hue spent less than two hours. Upon our arrival at Hue Phu Bai Airport, we were greeted by our local tour guide Mr Vu. He picked us up and sent us to Holiday Diamond Hotel, which is located inside a narrow street. We quickly did our check-in and went to bed early, hoping to see Halong Bay again in our dreams...
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