The best thing about the Indochina Junk that we are on is that it goes along its own private route through Ha Long Bay to a less visited, less touristy, less traffic area. The company has an agreement with the government because they do so much work in maintaining the area, providing schooling for the kids who live on the water and all the ecological stuff they do, that they are the only company permitted to use this special route. The beauty of that is you hardly see another boat, and if you ever read any reviews of Ha Long bay everyone says just how mega busy it is.
So we are cruising around the bay taking in the beauty of the area on our way to a floating fishing village where we get into bamboo boats that are rowed by the local fisher men and women, we can't quite believe how some of the young women who must be about 17 yrs old and about three stone, can generate the power to row these round boats with two other people in, it's impressive.
We stopped off at the floating school and saw some of the huge fish keep net areas where the keep the mature spawning fish separate from the baby fish, and then we went to watch pearl seeds being implanted in Oysters before browsing round the floating pearl jewellery shop, Gem bought a gorgeous pearl ring
We went back to the boat and had a lovely lunch, before a bit of free time which was perfect for a little nap before I went out Kayaking with my new bromie called Sam while gem stayed on board, had a bit of a snooze, did some blogging and a bit of yoga.
Kayaking was really good, we went off for ages and went to a cave where Anh told us last time he went there he met a fugitive / pirate type of guy who was heavily tattooed and armed! Bit freaky! We stayed out for about two hours and by the time we got back we were ready for a beer, nobody could really contend with the power me and Sam were laying down on the water, just like the Olympic rowers really, the rest of the world couldn't touch us lol.
Tea was served on board this evening so there was some relax time in order toget showered and changed before being on deck for around 7:30. The chef outdone himself this to e and the food was really exceptional, there was about 8 courses of differing veg dishes, prawns, beef and pork dishes sticky jasmine rice and we also got a whole crab each to crack and pick apart. It was blooming delicious, and on top of all that he produced some amazing food art.
Cranes made out of white turnips
An eagle made out of a pumpkin
A junk boat made out of a watermelon with carrots for sails
Oh and did I mention that he also made us a giant coconut sponge cake with meringue icing.... As you do.
Gem was also given a Conch shell by the captain
It's guy is the Vietnamese Tom Cruise in Top Gun, you will see what I mean in the next blog.
The whole crew then sang us all a song before inviting one of us up to sing or perform for them, so up steps Robbie the Kiwi wonder to bust some serious footwork skills, Rob we will never ever forget this mate your a star
It's was a great night, after dinner we sat around drinking and chatting with our new friends, Sam and Laura, Greg and Mike, the Kiwi wonders and all the other guys, a bit later I noticed a guitar behind the bar so I got it out and played a bit of finger picking chilled out stuff while Gem tried to consume her body weight in White Wine and me and Sam got stuck into the Whisky Sours (Sam by the way I found the best Whisky Sour ever in the Angelina Bar at the Metropole Hotel)
Safe to say we slept really really well.
Location:Ha long bay
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