Floating Village,Pearls and Journey to Saigon

Our day started out fairly leisurely as we had breakfast on our junk while cruising to the Floating  Village of Vung Vieng.  Currently, there are only 4 floating villages left in Halong Bay.  These villages are no longer full time residences for people, but they do still come here to carry out their fishing, but the main income from these villages is now tourism.  

Vung Vieng is located in Bai Tu Long Bay and is quite the picturesque setting.  The entrance into this village is  Luon Cave and is quite spectacular, almost like an opening into a private world.  This village's main income came from fishing and pearling farming.  However, in the past few years, tourism is the biggest income. 

 Several years ago, the government put out a directive that the people must move inland for an "improved quality of life" including better educational opportunities for the children and environmental concerns. After visiting this village, it was back to our junk boat for the final journey back to the harbor where we had to say goodbye to our gracious hosts and continue our journey to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City in the North of VietNam. 

On the way to the airport, we stopped at a pearl processing place and learned about the process of making cultured pearls and the importance of this industry to the area. We learned about the 3 different types of oysters found here and the type of pearls they produce, white pearls, black pearls and gold pearls.  They showed us how they know implant little balls into the live oysters, so as to make round pearls, although even with this process only about 20% of the pearls come out round enough to be used.  It was pretty amazing to see the whole implant process - each step was demonstrated to us.  Nothing goes to waste either.  They eat the meat after the pearl is removed and use the shell for jewelry as well. 

 From there we headed to the airport in Hai Phong to catch our flight to Ho Chi Minh City where we had to say good bye to "D".  While we will miss our new friend, we know that we have another coming into our lives in a matter of hours. 

Kayaking, Caving and Beach BBQ!!

 

Today, was a very relaxing day with just kayaking, caving and a beach BBQ on the agenda and enjoying the beauty of Halong Bay - as well as some of the legends that surround it - not to mention that this Bay is now one of the NEW Seven Wonders of the World...Another bucket list checked.  

The legend says that during the old time when the country was newly formed, Vietnamese had to fight against fierce invaders coming from the North through the sea. Feeling sorry for the country, The Jade Emperor sent the Mother Dragon and her children descending on earth to help ancient Vietnamese people defend the country.

While the mighty enemies were attacking the main land, The Mother Dragon and her children suddenly appeared and incinerated the enemies with their divine fire and giant emeralds. The emeralds from the dragon’s mouth were scattered around the battlefield on the sea and formed an invincible defensive wall that left enemy battleship fleet sinking. Thanks to the dragons, the Northern invaders were finally swept away and the peace finally came back the South East Asian country once again. After thousands of years, the wall of emerald turned into island and islets of different sizes and shapes.

After the battle, The Mother Dragon and her children didn’t come back to the heaven, but stayed in the mortal world and turned into human form and help people planting, cropping, raising cattle, reclaiming, and expanding the country.

To remember the help of Mother Dragon and her children, the people who lived there from generation to generation name the bay where the Mother Dragon descended “Ha Long or Halong” and the bay where her children descended “Bai Tu Long”, which means “Thanks to the Dragon’s children."

 Another legend we learned was about the caves - Supposedly the fairies lived in the caves and that if we used our imaginations we could see whatever we wanted.  We walked through one of the caves and learned about the formation of the stalagmites and stalactites and that this cave was still active in formation because it was still dipping and forming.  Some of the formations in the cave are oover thousands of years old - as they only grow about a centimeter every four years and some of them were HUGE, including one called the pillar.  All in all - it was pretty amazing.  We also got to kayak in some caves - including the Dragon’s nose and one that went all the way through the mountain.   We went at high tide, so there were some places in the cave that were a bit hard for Trevor to navigate due to his height, but he made it through.

We also enjoyed a Beach BBQ Vietnamese style.  Everyone enjoyed the vibe of eating outside on the beach and the food was really good.  It has been a nice relaxing day.  Tomorrow we are off to the Floating Village and then we fly to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) later this afternoon to begin our adventures in North Vietnam.  

Traveling to Halong Bay

We had an early start this morning to start our journey Halong Bay.   After saying good bye to Hanoi, we boarded our bus and started our journey to Halong Bay.

Along the way, our guide “D” saw a wedding car and told us about weddings in Vietnam.  Traditionally, weddings were arranged by the parents and their children grew to love their spouses after marriage.  However, now more and more young people are moving away from their family homes and meeting and choosing their own partners.  In this case, before they can marry, they must see a fortune teller who determines their compatibility and also the date of the wedding based on the lunar calendar.  Wedding photos are taken a month or so before the wedding to give to people and receive money in return.  It is not bad luck here to see your bride in her wedding dress before she walks down the aisle.


 We also passed by many rice fields and noticed that there were cemeteries in the middle of them, which of course, led to the discuss about funerals and whole they bury their ancestors and why in the rice fields.  In Southern Vietnam, people are buried twice.  Once is a temporary burial and usually lasts about 3 years.  During this time, nothing is done to the grave site other than putting flowers on it.  After this time period is up, the body is exhumed, bones are cleaned and then transferred to another marble coffin for a final burial based on Feng Shi.  At this time, the grave site is decorated with shrines or houses as this is the final resting ground and the soul can go to Buddha Land.  Some cemeteries are put in the rice fields so that the ancestors can be there to protect the crops and bring prosperity.

We made a pit stop along the way at Yen Duc Water Puppet theatre where we were able to experience the water puppets.  There were several different skits which included rice production, fishing, and dragon courting.  We also got to hear a traditional folk song from this region.  After the skits, we enjoyed another 10+ course meal.  Needless to say, we are eating well.

After getting back on the bus, our bus driver had gone to a local pagoda to pray and pick some fresh lychee fruit for us to try.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it fresh off the tree.  We made one more pit stop at a shopping rest stop where we could pick up all sorts of stuff.  The kids seemed to enjoy a shopping break and we tried some new snacks.

We finally finished our journey and arrived in Halong Bay where we boarded Dragon Pearl II - our home for the next few days.   We began our 2-1/2 cruise to our anchoring spot in the bay.  Once settled into our rooms, we had a safety discussion and a brief overview of our activities for the next few days.  Then it was it was down time for our cooking class where we learned how to make spring rolls and then got to eat them to give us some energy for our afternoon kayak around they bay.   The kids all seemed to enjoy being out on the water and seeing some of the limestone islands up close.  Once back at the boat, we all spent some time swimming around the boat.  Gerritt got to check another thing off his bucket list - “Get stung by a jellyfish in Vietnam - check!”  The crew quickly rubbed the area with some sort of local plant to stop the stinging and irritation.  He said it didn’t hurt, was just annoying and itched.  After everyone had their fill of swimming, it was time to clean up for dinner and some relaxing watching the sunset.

We are all looking forward to cave exploring tomorrow and our beachside BBQ Vietnamese style!

Hanoi City Tour

What a way to start off this adventure.  We had a relatively relaxed start to the day having breakfast at 7:30 before we headed out to explore Hanoi, which was much appreciated after our long day of flying.  Our first stop was the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.  This is where the body of "Uncle Ho" is on display in a glass sarcophagus.  Unfortunately we were not able to go inside as it is under it's annual maintenance which takes 2 months, but we did get to walk the grounds and learned about Ho Chi Minh and why is called the Father of Viet Nam.  He is who brought communism to the country as a means to improve the economy and the lives of the people. 

From there we walked to the Presidential Palace and the grounds.  Ho Chi Minh refused to live in the palace, although he did entertain foreign dignitaries there, and to this day, no leader has actually lived in the palace out of respect for him.  On the grounds of the palace are 2 other houses where he did live - one complete with a bunker built into a hill to the side of the house.  The grounds were quite spectacular.

Our next stop was the One Pillar Pagoda, which  is regarded as one of the two most iconic pagodas in Vietnam.  The pagoda was constructed in 1049 by Emperor Ly Thai Tong.  According to legend, he was childless and had a dreamt he met bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara who gave him  a son while he sat on a lotus flower.  Soon after the dream, he married a peasant woman who bore him a son and he built the pagoda to honor her.  He built it with one pillar similar to the one he saw in his dream. 

From here we headed over to the Ethnic Museum where we learned about all the different ethnic groups that make up Vietnam, including 54 different ethnic groups with their own customs and language, but most also speak Vietnamese so they can all communicate with each other.  Each group is name based on here they are located in the country and a loose description of their traditional dress and customs.  Outside the museum, the had replicas (for lack of a better word) of the different styles of houses of the different groups.  We also learned that many generations live together in one home.  The kids also got a chance to take their hand (or feet) in a childhood game of "Monkey Bridge" where they had to balance and walk across a piece of bamboo the became more and more unstable the farther down you got on it.  Gerritt and Rachel were both determined to make it to the other end, but in the end could not.  One of the fun facts that we learned about was why their houses have a high entry threshold and then stepped down...apparently spirits do not have feet, so bad spirits could not get into the house because they could not cross the high threshold.  Pretty clever!!

We also made a pit stop at a lacquer museum where we learned the tedious process of creating lacquer art from the lacquer tree.  There are different styles of lacquer artwork including paint, eggshell and mother of pearl.  One small painting takes up to 4 months to complete and has 19 layers of lacquer.  We all have become lacquer art connoisseurs and can spot inferior or knockoff lacquer artwork now.  Parents, you have been warned!

Next, it was time for lunch!!  We went a Indochine where we had a "family" style meal which included soup, spring rolls, fish, pork, rice, vegetables, shrimp and fruit.  I was a ton of food and was very good.  Everyone seemed to enjoy their first real taste of Vietnamese food with all the different influences - French, European, Asian. 

After lunch we headed to the Hanoi Hilton.  This was originally was a prison built by the French to house prisoners who spoke out against the government among other crimes.  This was a brutal place to be - with the prisoners being tortured routinely.  Later it was used to house the American pilots who were captured during the "American War" as they call it here.  Among the notable American POWs held here were John McCain and Douglas Peterson, who later became the first US Ambassador to Vietnam and married a local Vietnamese woman.  All the students agreed that they would not have liked to be a French prisoner here. 

Next on our agenda was the Temple of Literature.  This is considered the first university of Vietnam and was built in honor of Confucius in 1070.  Inside the temple is the Imperial Academy where the hardest exams are held.  In on of the courtyards, there are also over 100 carved stone tablets on turtles (one of the four holy creatures of Vietnam - including the Lion, Unicorn and Phoenix).  These are inscribed with the honors of the scholars. 

Our last stop in the afternoon was a walk through the old city and a traditional street marker.   Here we learned that families live in a community together and usually all take part in the same trade.  For example, on "Shoe Street" where there are shoes stores - they are all family, so there really isn't a competition for sales so they can have 20-30 shoe stores all together.  There was also "Silver Street", "Luggage Street", etc.  It was very crowded in here and we found that the sidewalks were used to park their motorbikes and the streets were for pedestrians, motorbikes and cars.  Definitely took a bit to get used to, but quite the experience.

We then headed back to the hotel to clean up for dinner.  After dinner, we have returned to the hotel to pack and get ready for our journey to Halong Bay tomorrow, hitting the road at about 7:30 a.m.  We are having a blast and recovering from the jet lag and looking forward to a few days on the water!

Ready....Set...GO!!!

Here we are - about a week away from embarking on another life changing journey....Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand - Here we come!!!  Let the count down begin.