The elements have carved the limestone into countless fantastically shaped islets. I got a package deal that included bus rides there an back and a 2-day, 1-night cruise on a junk with my own little cabin. Of course, ours wasn't the only tourist boat on the bay that weekend.
There were eight of us total, aside from the crew: 4 Chinese electrical engineers, a Chinese musician and his girlfriend, an Austrian woman and me. We cruised the bay and visited "Surprise Cave," then the adventurous (me!) hopped in some kayaks and paddled around for a bit. I went to investigate the local fishing village. People actually live and work here. This is just somebody's house:
The weather didn't totally cooperate, but that just means I got lots of moody, gray shots of the islands and the local fishermen shrouded in mist.
Before supper, the crew took us back to the fishing village and we each picked our dinner, caught that day and still wriggling. The group picked out some freaky prawn-like things, all legs and eyes. I picked out some clams. Back at the junk, the chef whipped up a feast that we all shared. I ate one of the creepy little sea monsters. Not that bad! The clams were buttery and delicious, but I lived to regret them -- my stomach was tied in knots for a week.
Card Sharks
After dinner, the Chinese engineers pulled out a deck of cards and started playing a 3-player game I'd never seen before. They called it Landlord and taught me the rules. It was complicated. When my turn came to play, I fared badly.
Looking to save face somewhat, I taught them Hearts. I also came to regress this. They took to it quick. When I started explaining the strategy, they simply smiled: "Yes, it's obvious. If you trade away all your spades, you could be passed the Queen and have no way to get rid of it." "Oh, damn," I thought, "I'm screwed." They crushed me. But it was fun, and from that point on, they did nothing but play Hearts, long into the night and all the next day.
It was inky black that night. Lights on the other junks, diffuse from the mist, reflected off the water. It felt like we were suspended in space. The sounds of muted, far-off laughter came from all directions. I hung out with the musician and his girlfriend for a bit, who were fishing off the back of the boat, then retired to my cabin and slept soundly.
I woke to a heavier mist and rain. My photos from the next day are even moodier.
We had a Western-style breakfast and then just cruised around in the mist for a bit. We pulled back into the harbor around noon, had lunch and then rode the bus back to Hanoi.
Here's me and the engineers. The one with the camera is the musician. A good bunch of guys -- I really liked them a lot.
4 comments:
So calm and serene.
Molly! Thanks for dropping by. :-) Yes, very serene. The bay is big enough that I didn't feel crowded by the other boats, and with only 8 people on ours, it seemed very cozy.
This post made me giggle... I think it was you getting flayed at cards. That would be ME, if I were there. I completely suck at card games.
Also, being a sucker for a good reflection, I got hooked with that photo of the floating house.
I thought you'd like that one! I like it, too. Best of all, I like that it's just someone's home. I paddled my kayak to the other side and there the owner was asleep in a hammock on his porch. You can just make out a bit of his hammock in this picture.
Post a Comment