Thankfully the screeching monkeys on the nearby island to our boat quietened down and allowed us a good night sleep. We woke to the serenity of Ha Long Bay and a mixture of Asian and western style breakfast.
Our boat took us to a floating fishing village (home to 200 local fisherman & families) that operates in Ha Long Bay. We were transferred to small bamboo boats and rowed around the islands and the fishing village. We stopped in at the floating school and saw the teacher in action. However, only primary school is provided. To go to secondary school the children have to go the mainland, a 4 hour motorboat trip. This rarely happens and the children become fishermen like their fathers or oarswomen for the tourists. We also stopped in at a pearl centre where they showed you the intricate method of planting and caring for the pearl inside the shell mulusc. Of course there were some lovely pearl necklaces for sale for many US dollars.
Back on the boat we headed back to port and treated to an early lunch. If you get the chance to go to Ha Long Bay it is definitely worth it, a beautiful place, possibly one of the 7 natural wonders of the world (see http://sevennaturalwonders.org/) .
The rest of the day was spent driving back to the airport to catch our flight to Danang. All I can say is that it was good to finally arrive at the airport in one piece. Along the way there was lots of crazy overtaking of trucks!!
Our flight to Danang, in the central Vietnam was pleasant, and then a 40 minute car ride to our hotel in the old city of Hoi An…. So an afternoon of travelling was a bit tiring.. however our river side resort is reasonably new and very comfortable.
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- Halong Bay
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- the latest fashion, also useful as a basket
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- Floating Fishing Village Halong Bay
What a beautiful place. I had imagined it was going to be something special!
Those hats are incredible. I want one.
^^ That was me “James” by the way. No idea why the name default to “Michael”.