On to Malaysia

Ha Long Bay, Cai Lan, Vietnam


It was misting and then raining when we got up after 6 am. We had heard the noise of the pilot boat before that. This bay is so hard to describe but it is mesmerizing. It resembles those Oriental brush paintings. The Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site. There are old oriental style boats snuggled up to large oil tankers (empty) and a cargo ship, Oriental Princess, which someone said is now a cruise ship! The bay features “thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes.” I’m reminded of the painting term “chiaroscuro” as you can see mists behind each successive layer of mountain range. The monoliths rise straight up out of the water and achieve significant heights. Everything was in shades of gray. It is recognized as one of the 33 most beautiful bays in the world.
Tender port
We went down at 8 am for our tour and didn’t have to wait long. Vietnamese immigration officials were at the exit of the ship and gave us a stamp for our Vietnam “passenger’s landing card.” Almost all of us paid $20 USD for a Vietnam visa. The exempted folks were Malayasian, Filipino, Danish and NORWEGIAN! Go figure. We never knew why they weren’t charged.
We tendered for about 10 minutes to a floating pontoon pier for the tender to disgorge us. When the tender was tied up, one of the officers yelled to us: “Good Morning, Vietnam!” This brought a good chuckle from us all. We picked up a bus and since we were the last bus (remember Ed’s sense of time) we had plenty of room as the bus was only a little full. We travelled quite a way on the countryside highways and saw the conical hats and bicycles and scooters laden with astonishing amounts of products and people. The traffic is even worse than China if you can believe that. They have mastered the fine art of “chicken” to a gold medal level. The women are totally covered as they ride including masks. They want to preserve their skin unlike many of the lounge lizards who have resumed frying on the upper deck now that we are in warmer weather.
Ceramics
Our first stop was a ceramics factory that was in a small neighborhood somewhere in the countryside. We were greeted by several lovely ladies in the native au dong (I may not have the name correct); only one spoke English but she was very good. Along the way, we met her husband and her infant son.
The ceramics are gorgeous and we’ve probably seen them at Costco. It is slave piece labor. Nothing is mechanized and women do most of the work including shoveling clay. Some folks did buy souvenirs here and instead of a bag, they got a basket like bag to hold their purchases.
Farmer’s home
This was very interesting. Three rooms; three generations. Grandma was shepherding the young toddler and the father of the family was serving us all hot tea and sweet potatoes as a snack. The middle room of the house is where the small TV and ancestor’s altar were along with the ubiquitous small plastic chairs. Bedrooms flanked this room. Their beds are larger and squarer than ours. The two beds in the one bedroom had canopies and the guide told me they do have privacy curtains for the night.
The bathroom, kitchen, and storage areas are in outbuildings adjacent to the house. They gather rain water but there is a well nearby. There were small crops adjacent to the house and a little of cute puppies that we all gushed over. The free range chickens just scattered.
The women in the family manage the rice paddy which is some distance away. The women fill the rice paddy with water by hand after they’ve planted the young plants.
Police
We didn’t see many police but we had to go through a checkpoint to get to the farmer’s house which was a walk from the road to which we gained access. The immigration men seemed to understand all the English.
Zen Monastery
This was a wonderful experience. It is on the top of the highest mountain. Such serenity, peace, beauty. It is so quiet except for the birds and the gong the monk taps when someone has joss sticks and leaves them in the brasier. We were given some and so we offered prayers for Ed’s Mom’s health as God wishes.
There were actually several altars and you took off your shoes to walk around those areas. There were some monks studying in one building and later we could hear them chanting and then singing. Many of the plants had been made into topiary lions, chickens, dragons and such. Some of the folks had some difficulty getting up the stairs; I didn’t count how many there were but probably close to 50 at least with no handrail. However, they aren’t nearly as steep as the Great Wall’s steps which surely must be the steepest anywhere.
Money
While we were warned to take local currency, American money was gladly accepted each place where a donation or purchase was made. People use their children as a way to get donations. As we tendered back to the ship, a lady in a flimsy boat was rowing around with 3 preschool aged kids in her boat. She came up behind the tender as it was disgorgoing passengers. Now this is where the engine pushes the water back. Idiots were passing money to her which she gathered with a long pole with a net on the end. What was happening was dangerous and she kept her distance until someone held out money. Why don’t people use their brains? Many folks were remarking that the no one had life preservers. Shoot: they had no security at all if that boat tipped at all I saw the toddler crawling back and forth and hanging over the edge. I’m sure the mother knows what she’s doing, but….
Markets
As we were waiting to take the tender back, we looked at some of the items a vendor had near the pontoon. There was nothing there that was enticing. We debated whether to go back to see the night market; we could have taken a rickshaw there and back. But we decided against it. We knew we weren’t going to buy anything. The bay is gorgeous and we enjoyed just watching the sky and coloring change from our cabin. Oh yes, it quit raining about mid morning so while there was no sunshine, it was cooler though horribly humid.
Animals
They use water buffalo extensively in their agriculture and it is common to see them in the rice paddies. The missed great photo of today was a water buffalo in the middle of a rice paddy and this gorgeous, pure white heron is right next to its forehoof. What a scene.
Lunch
We went to the Panorama Buffet and grabbed some last minute left overs. I enjoy the unlimited veggies and salads up there. We sat on the back of the ship and it was absolutely perfect. After we finished, I downloaded the photos, did some quick editing and then wrote this all the while with this great view right to my left side. Ed watched TV the whole time and snoozed (though he’d deny the latter).
Dinner: Warrick is ill with a stuffy nose and Norma and Neville were on the Hanoi trip which didn’t return until around 7 pm, which was beyond the time the ship was scheduled to weigh anchor. We had a lot of laughs and shared stories from our tours today. Our tour had the Red River Delta advertised as a part of it and we didn’t go there; there wasn’t enough time anyway. Another lady took a tour that advertised that they would visit caves. Apparently some of the groups DID go to the caves but her tour did not and they were told it was because the guide was afraid it was too slippery. So the lady in question is going to the excursion desk to get some money back. I would have been disappointed as well if I had been on that tour. Further, the excursion desk needs to know that this went on.
No Hanoi this trip: Ed and I had discussed going to Hanoi and I was disappointed when we didn’t book this tour but I suppose it was just as well. The group left at 7 am and had a 3.5 to 4 hr ride each way. With an hour for lunch the question is: how much could they see beyond what we saw in the countryside with our tour? So Hanoi will have to wait for another time.
Vietnam documentary
One of our fellow passengers did a documentary on the Vietnam War and it was shown this evening. I thought it brought up some interesting perspectives on the war (not all of which I believe but none the less…) and was something it was worth listening to. Ed was grumping through much of the broadcast so I decided not to try to discuss it with him. ;-)
Victor Michael
This young man from Manchester, England, was billed as “A night at the theatre” and featuring the music of the 3 tenors and Andrea Boccelli. So I was pretty skeptical. I was really skeptical when I saw him: skinny, almost shaved head with a scruffy beard growing in. He did have a tuxedo on that befitted his age which I guess at around 30 maybe more or less. And then he opened his mouth! What a voice! I didn’t want the show to stop. He was fantastic. So we’ll see him again next Wednesday in a show.
Technology challenges
I attached the external hard drive so we could back-up the computer and I could transfer some photos onto the laptop itself. The latter worked but the Norton says it can’t find the external. So I’ll leave that for Ed to figure out when he’s more patient as he set it up.
Email: we both went up to the internet café after the show to check our email. The satellite connection is unpredictable since we are among islands so perhaps by tomorrow it will work better.