Halong Bay, Viet Nam - January 24, 2018

Tai Chi is a wonderful way to start the day. After a cup of coffee, we met on the upper deck and our Tai Chi master, Lan, also chief bartender and waiter, led us through an early morning exercise. We do Tai Chi occasionally at home on the parking lot of the Sandy Springs Library. I don't know why we don't do it more often. It is led by a Chinese man who is trained in Chinese medicine and acupuncture but he loves Tai Chi and teaches the class every Saturday for anyone who cares to meet early morning at no charge whatsoever.

The exercise in the morning mist made us feel loosened-up and alive, ready for breakfast. We chose our selections last night. I had vegetable soup, and Stan had eggs and bacon. We both had fresh bread. Then I was brought a plate of scrambled eggs and sausages . . . which I did not recall having ordered. I am just a little person; I simply cannot eat all this food! The soup was wonderful. It seems soup is a traditional breakfast item here and it is made fresh for every meal. The highlight of the meal was mango juice just pureed this morning.

We had two excursions before noon. First we sailed to Hang Luon (Pass Through Cave). We left our boat and motored on the launch to a dock where we boarded a bamboo boat powered by a man using long wooden oars. We passed through the arch and entered a crater-like sheltered pool surrounded by mountains on all sides. We were told that this area is where fishing boats find safety and refuge in times of typhoons or other bad storms. It was very pretty and it was busy. While there were only four people on our bamboo boat, me, Stan, Bella (our guide) and the rower, we passed several bamboo boats filled with Chinese or Korean tourists on day trips. We all waved, said hello, Sin Ciao, good-bye and any other words we each could think of to greet each other warmly. People want to connect! I believe times like this when we wave, smile and look each other in the eye are conducive to peace in the world; I think the people we meet feel the same.

The rocks forming this circular sea refuge is home to monkeys! We fed them chunks of banana. They were so fat that I am sure they never have to forage for their meals but they must surely tire of bananas.

Next we re-boarded our junk and sailed to Dao Ti Top (Ti Top Island) which is the only island among the over 1600 here named after a man. Ti Top was a Russian cosmonaut who came to visit here in 1962 and represents good relations between Viet Nam and Russia. At the top of the mountain is a viewing platform that provides a 360-degree view of the beautiful spectacle below. It's a steep climb of 427 rocky steps to the top. I had to coerce Stan into making the trek but he's such a good sport. Yes, the sky is still very hazy but the view and the experience was worth it. Even Stan said so. While looking out over the water at the many islands and the collection of busy fishing boats and the even larger collection of tourist boats, I kept thinking . . . soon we will be back home, and all this will still be here, amazing another and another group of first-time spectators.

We met or shall I say, connected with other tourists on this hilltop too! We stand out, of course, obviously different from all the Asian tourists and so many of them want to say hello, take our picture, laugh with us, hold hands and take photos with us. They wave, give the peace sign or thumbs up - and we all grin eagerly at each other! I say it again; this is good for world peace and human understanding.

The crew served another wonderful lunch . . . corn soup, lotus root and carrot salad, flash stir-fried shrimp and squid rings with onion and peppers and finally, good Lord, the most luscious yogurt I have ever tasted with diced watermelon, dragon fruit and mango. I'm dying!

In the afternoon we sailed to the floating vishing village, Cua Van, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. The village was once 600 people strong and they lived literally on boats. After it was designated a World Heritage Site, the government assisted families to move to the city of Halong Bay and gave them houses. For those who remained, the government built houses on boats which improved the quality of life for the people who chose to continue making their living on the water. Today when a pregnant woman is in her seventh month, she must move to the city to live temporarily and to give birth. When kids become school-age and wish to go to school, children go to Halong Bay for their schooling and live government provided dormitories.

Obviously these families make their unique living on the water, catching fish by net and catching valuable squid at night attracting with them lights and snagging them with sharp pointed pins. They sell their catch at the harbor. A boat from the harbor visits them each day like a small grocery store, selling fruit, vegetables and other necessities. There is even a painted, wooded two-room structure that serves as a floating hospital. It was fun watching kids run around the small boats, wives hanging laundry from lines on the back of their boats; and dogs barking frantically as they nervously watched us paddle by in our strange-looking kayaks

Yes, today in our ultramodern, work-intensive, over-informed, media rich, electronic, connected world, these people live their whole lives this way, fishing, taking care of their boats and fishing nets, cooking, eating, doing laundry and raising families. Wow, just wow!

Our last adventure on this amazing bay was a a trip to the pearl farm. This was a very educational venue. The pearl farm is a floating operation in the bay. They use three types of oysters, each producing different sizes and colors of pearls. Another farm grows the baby oysters. Young oysters arrive here and under-go minor surgery in which a tiny bit of another oyster's (who gave his life) membrane along with a nucleus (a tiny sphere made from the shell of another pearl oyster) is implanted in the host oyster's gonad. The implanted oysters are placed in flat sandwich-like nets and hang in the bay for 3 years for smaller oysters and up to 5-7 years for large oysters that tend to produce the very large pearls. The incubating oysters are periodically lifted from the bay n their containers and cleaned. Barnacles and parasites are removed and mud is cleaned off and returned to the sea for more growth. Finally, only thirty percent of all implanted oysters produce a pearl.

Tomorrow we will enjoy early morning Tai Chi once more and a fabulous breakfast and then this luxury cruise is complete. We are spoiled.

Yes, leaving this paradise boat tomorrow. Heading to Da Nang and then on to Hoi An . . . noise and street food again???