If you're going to Vietnam you better go to Halong Bay. If you're going to Halong Bay, you better do a cruise. This is what people kept telling us, so Tash and I decided to do it. We had a few options: we could: 1. take a booze cruise for cheap, cheap, cheap or 2. take a two day one night 5 star cruise for 189 USD. These two grannies decided to splurge on the 5 star cruise and we were not disappointed.
The van picked us up at our hostel and to take us to the dock. We encountered a backup on the highway so our driver decided to do some offroading through the Vietnamese countryside. This was a great way to see the other side of Vietnamese living, however it was not a good way to keep from getting car sick.
After about halfway through our drive, we stopped at a rest stop that employs people with mental disabilities. The money these workers make supports their families, many of which have suffered tragedies from the Vietnam War.
We reached the dock safely and boarded a small boat that took us to the cruise ship. The ship slept 36 people-- Tash and I were the youngest by generations. We met a Vietnamese couple in their 50s traveling from Seattle. The two had grown up in 'Nam and had escaped to the US as refugees. The husband had been back since fleeing, but this was his wife's first time visiting since she'd left.
Our room aboard the ship was amazing. There were two beds with multiple pillows (this is a huge luxury!) and a large bathroom complete with a jacuzzi bathtub, robes, slippers and toiletries!
Every meal aboard the ship was 6-7 courses long (Tash and I felt so badly because we were never able to finish all of the food!)
Our first day included cave exploration, a spring roll cooking class and squid fishing. The caves were absolutely amazing! Our tour guide Tom was incredibly knowledgeable regarding the caves, or so we thought... at dinner that evening the Vietnamese couple informed us that much of the information we were being given was inaccurate, even down to the number of islands clustered throughout Halong Bay (we're told there are 1,969 islands because the year 1969 is incredibly important to the communist party) This was the second time during our trip to Vietnam that I realized, on a deeper level, how lucky I am to be American born.
Tash and I were up and ready at 6:30 the next morning for a tai chi class on the top deck. I have never done tai chi before and it was very relaxing-- the views of the bay were gorgeous and it was actually a bit cool out. After we had a buffet breakfast with pancakes and peach juice- yum!
Then we got ready for our morning excursion which was a trip to a pearl farm. There used to be many pearl farms scattered around the bay, but the government shut them down. Now there's only a handful left. The Vietnamese workers aren't allowed to live on their boats, so the government built small water houses for them.The people must pay rent to live in these houses. There used to be a teacher who came to the water community, however now the water school house is not used. If children want to go to school they have to go to mainland Hanoi and live with friends or relatives. The water village we boated through consisted of only 10 families. Everyone does their part to help sustain the village. Women take tourists back and forth to the farm in paddle boats. Men work on the farm collecting oysters. A pearl is formed when an "intruder", such as a grain of sand, slips between the two shells of the oyster. The oyster immediately begins to secrete layers of nacre to protect itself. The layers of nacre coat the sand until a pearl is formed. Instead of waiting for this process to happen naturally, the pearl farmers collect oysters, inbed their own "intruders", then wait for the oysters to start protecting themselves, which in turn forms the pearls. Ladies, here's a tip: if you want to know if your pearls are real or fake, set fire to them. If they burn, they're not real pearls.
After exploring the pearl farm, we headed back to the ship to "check out". Tash and I missed the memo that we had to be out of our room, so we laid down for a nap. To get us out of our room, the boat staff started blaring horrid pop music through our room speakers; the music didn't stop until we vacated the room.
Our journey ended with a 7 course lunch and a beautiful view of the port- Land Ho!
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