Viet Tin 1

Second day on the junk. Last night was incredibly peaceful with the help of a tablet of sturgeron that Dixie suggested! They actually sell it in Thailand. I woke up fairly early but tried to stay in bed a little longer to catch up on the last couple of early mornings.

They served a great breakfast of pancake with jelly, noodles, and fruit.












More fantastic scenery...






















































Then we headed for fish farm growing, red snapper, grouper, Kingfish and a couple other local types. The farms are floating simple houses with rudimentary narrow walkways with grids of netted pens in which the fish grow until reaching a profitable selling size.























Kingfish...





Growing mussels...

















The cook...





The complete crew with Viet Tin 1...





While it seems rather crude it seems that smaller houses are attached as sleeping living quarters, including a main house, a cooking house and perhaps storage. It would an interesting experiential working vacation for someone wanting to learn more about local life and fish farming.






This afternoon we are cruising around and have dropped anchor while Hung, Lao and Donna have gone out for a kayak ride. Were supposed to pick them up at a beach though it sure seems we've come a long way!







This bay is immense. Eco Friendly chooses the road less taken so we don't encounter too many other boats which is pleasant. apparently many of them wind up in the same bay, have karaoke, partied and lots of drinking. We anchored next to another Eco boat last night though they were fairly quiet as well. Eco boats are considerably smaller, so you can have a two to six or ten people but that might be the max. A great way to go!



















Fishing vessels





Eco needed Hung on another boat so we said goodbye and traded him away!











We have Iunch on the boat then head back to Cat Ba island where we will see the national park tomorrow, then stay the night in a hotel.





On the way back to Cat Ba island to dock...































Posted from Halong Bay, Vietnam.

Location:Halong bay Vietnam

Cruising the Karsts

The journey here was long. Up at 545 breakfast at 615 with a 640 pick up.
We had a plush private mercedes van for the 2 hour ride to Hai Phong where we loaded a smelly hyrdofoil craft that had seen better days which took another 75 minutes when we finally arrived in Cat Ba island where we waited again for 30 minutes for our boat to arrive.




Finally, we got onto our junk and felt the trip was all worth it
















We have four person crew to cater to the two of us. Hung, 24 year old and the best English speaker of the bunch, Lao 22 year old novice, the cook and the captain.






Eco Friendly Vietnam takes off from another part of the island, away from every other tour boat company. Once we got underway, we were served tea from the top deck of the boat where the view was spectacular!















The rain began to fall so we retired to the inside cabin and inspected our accommodations. Our room has a toilet shower combination, one full and one twin bed, fans, and a safe. Comfortable.


After cruising for a bit, and stopping by the floating grocery store, we anchored in the middle of the bay, and were served a wonderful lunch!!















After lunch was siesta time! I found a spot on deck, though a bit breezy kit was still comfortable.







The flats make an appearance!











Sites around us...




























They are encouraging us kayak though the weather is a bit cool. Donna is willing so we stopped at a floating station to pick up two kayaks. Other folks were already out before the rains and making their way in.









Our guys took a kayak out to pick snails for dinner!













It looks like Lao went out to pick these but indeed he did not! They were so excited about their haul, they went back out in the wind and rain to gather more. They looked interesting though pretty tiny. They didn't serve us these local delights, thinking they weren't in our repertoire of eating.

Instead, we had the following:















After dinner, we entertained each other with singing nursery rhymes for each other before turning in after 10pm and lights out around 11pm.

- Posted from a junk in Halong Bay, Vietnam